State College Planning Commission reviews latest high-rise. Would it add more empty retail space?
The State College Planning Commission formally reviewed plans for a 12-story housing complex proposed for East College Avenue, with some sharing concerns about having more vacant retail space in downtown State College.
Landmark Properties, an off-campus housing developer headquartered in Athens, Georgia, that owns five other student apartment complexes in State College, is proposing a 12-story building at the corner of East College Avenue and Sowers Street. The 155-foot building will be mixed use, as a multi-family residential apartment building with commercial and retail space.
The plans include three levels of underground parking for residents and retail customers, about 6,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, about 8,600 square feet of retail space on the second floor and 159 residential units that will range from studio apartments to five bedrooms. In total, there will be 515 beds.
There will be an open air courtyard on the second floor and a club room and rooftop deck with a pool on the twelfth floor. Additionally the plans include a gym, club room and study spaces on the second floor.
Landmark will pay about $2 million to the borough as part of the fee-in-lieu for inclusionary housing.
Preliminary plans were submitted to the borough in 2022 and the planning commission reviewed the final plans during its meeting Wednesday. Landmark bought the McDonald’s property, 444 East College Ave., and surrounding properties at 111 Sowers St. in the fall, according to deed reports.
McDonald’s subsequently closed — prompting students to hold a candlelight “vigil” — though preliminary plans showed McDonald’s would be one of the retailers on the ground floor. That is no longer the case, Nick Lev, development manager for Landmark Properties, said Wednesday, and it has not been determined what retailer will be in its place.
The plans include a walk-up window for the space and Landmark is talking with national fast food and fast casual restaurants that are interested, Lev said.
The other retail spaces have some interest, as well. They are in preliminary discussions with three primary retailers, two are fast food restaurants and the third is a store that sells Penn State gear, he said.
Empty retail space in the ground and first couple of floors of high-rises has long been an issue in downtown State College. Most developers of high-rise buildings leave the retail space as “gray shell” space, meaning tenants will have to start from scratch to build out the space, which can be very expensive.
Landmark will be the owner, general contractor and the property manager on the project. Planning Commission member Anita Genger asked if they plan to put in anything more than the gray shell space, to which Lev said they do not plan to do because the needs and requirements vary so greatly from retailer to retailer. They will use a film over the windows so the unfinished space won’t be visible from the outside, he said.
Lev said they expect to have a lot of demand for the retail space, given the location of the building.
“Some of the locations are a little bit further from where retailers would like to be, and that kind of hurts the demand filling those spaces. We feel good about this location. There should be plenty of demand, especially for the ground floor,” he said.
Another member, Curtis Shulman, asked if they would have any leasehold improvements or other incentives for retailers to develop the space. Lev said they have tenant improvements budgeted for the building — a sum of money the landlord gives the tenant to help cover construction and renovation costs — and there is some flexibility on that based on the end user.
Construction is anticipated to begin in the fall and the developers expect the building to open in August 2028.
