State College will use eminent domain for parking facility. Are more land acquisitions in store?
The State College Borough will use eminent domain to take property downtown as part of a larger plan to replace the Pugh Street parking garage — and signaled that more land acquisition could be a possibility.
During Monday’s borough council meeting, the council unanimously approved using eminent domain — the right of a government to take private property for public use (with compensation) — at 142 McAllister St. to build a parking facility that will replace the Pugh Street Parking Garage, which is nearing the end of its useful life.
The move comes nearly a year after plans to use eminent domain to take property at 219 E. Beaver Ave., which houses businesses such as The Brewery, Canyon Pizza, Canyon Wings and Music Mart, were scrapped. After initially approving the measure, the borough received weeks of unprecedented blowback before reversing course. At the time, many people spoke against the borough using eminent domain and shared their stories and love for those businesses, particularly The Brewery.
But the council still approved a resolution to take the 142 McAllister St. property, which holds a rental house owned by Rodney Hendricks, in August 2023. Monday’s action adopted an ordinance that directs the solicitor to prepare and file a declaration of taking with the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County.
Council member Matt Herndon said taking property as a municipal government is a strong action and in this case they also have a deadline and are essentially forced to do something. He said he’s “biting the bullet” and hoping it can be part of a more holistic approach to parking.
Could The Brewery still be part of future plans?
Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said Monday “it’s certainly a possibility” that the borough revisits acquiring land on Beaver Avenue for the future parking garage.
During public comment, Jay Horgas, co-owner of The Brewery, said when he and Fountaine spoke earlier that day, he shared they’d be willing to work with the borough.
“If there’s any way that we could be involved … with what’s going forward, I’d like to be included in those discussions. We’re open to any variety of options that may help the borough as well as ourselves,” Horgas said.
Later in the meeting when the council was discussing the 142 McAllister St. property, council member Gopal Balachandran brought up the adjacent properties and asked if that could be a future possibility.
“...It sounds like there may be opportunities then to be able to think more holistically and broadly about that parcel that’s located in that section of Beaver Avenue. So I just wanted to make that point and also ask a question whether that is going to be the subject of future discussions,” Balachandran said.
Fountaine said the borough would be “happy to talk with (Horgas) and pursue any options that may be available.”
Horgas emphasized that he wanted to be included in the conversation and he wanted the process to be as public as possible. He sees “the greater situation” and is therefore amenable to the idea, he said.
“We’re in a position where you need to address that parking garage. … I think that we could come up with something a little more holistic that everybody’s happy with. And I’m not saying this is the death of The Brewery or anything remotely like that,” Horgas said. “I just recognize when you have Buffalo Wild Wings moving into town, the composition of town has changed and the public generally does not like all the changes that have occurred. (I’m) trying to hold on to some old charm of State College but it might be too late for that.”
Millions to replace parking structures
The council also adopted the 2025-29 Capital Improvement Plan, which includes replacing the Pugh Street garage. Site selection, as well as putting out a request for proposals should be completed this year, with any land acquisition occurring in late 2024 or early 2025, it states.
The CIP shows that, in total, replacing parking structures will cost over $54 million. Herndon questioned that and suggested they remove the item from the CIP and create a new item.
“We should work on crafting a new item that more broadly addresses parking, transportation, housing and safety in the borough,” he said. “...There are many workers in the borough who are priced out of living here. We must address that by adding affordable housing in the borough so they can live here, and that should be part of an item like this.”
Other council members didn’t necessarily disagree with his line of thinking and agreed that it needed to be approached holistically, but said the item needed to be kept in the CIP so it can be addressed. Fountaine said the CIP is just a plan and the budget is an estimate. He urged the council to keep the item in the CIP to meet other deadlines in place for the project.
“If we take it off the table, we are really hamstrung in terms of having the ability to move the project to meet the deadlines that we have to replace a structurally unsound facility that does not have a life past 2028 based on the structural engineering analysis that had previously been done. I would strongly encourage you to leave this project in and make decisions in 2025 as we actually have hard numbers and real projects to talk about, as opposed to the project that is listed here as merely the replacement of existing parking,” Fountaine said. The council ultimately kept the item in the CIP.
The next borough council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 12.
