Centre County Walmart plans for pickup area change, expansion. What to know
One of the largest commercial retailers in Centre County could be getting a minor facelift following the approval of its land development plans by the College Township Planning Commission.
At the commission’s meeting on Tuesday, the Walmart in College Township, located at 373 Benner Pike, saw its plans for a 3,300-square-foot online shopping pickup and holding area expansion unanimously approved, meaning that the plans can now move to the township’s council for final approval.
While the retailer — one of two Walmart locations in the county — already has an online shopping area located on the store’s southern side, facing the Benner Pike Shops, the new addition will be built on the building’s north side, adjacent to its garden center.
If the expansion gets final approval, the current pickup area will be transformed into regular parking spaces.
“While the canopy is going to stay where it’s at, we’re planning on re-striping the parking spots so that they can be used as regular parking spaces,” Michael Meyers, a project manager for Dewberry Engineering said, representing Walmart at the meeting. “Traffic around the store isn’t going to be rerouted, but we will have new signage put up directing people to where the new pickup area is.”
According to Meyers, the construction of the new space will not interfere with any of the store’s other functions.
“Throughout the construction process, we make sure to keep in contact with the store’s manager to make sure that anything that could be affected is mitigated well beforehand,” Meyers said. “I don’t anticipate customers shopping there noticing anything different.”
A timeline for the expansion’s construction was not provided at the meeting, and Jeremy Eanes, another Dewberry Engineering project manager representing the store, said Wednesday that a project timeline was unable to be shared at this point.
Moving forward, additional information on the expansion will be provided at future College Township Council meetings, which are held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month.