Loss of low-income housing looms as State College reviews plan for Addison Court site
State College officials heard plans Tuesday afternoon for a development planned for where a low-income, senior housing complex has stood for decades.
The borough’s design review board received a presentation from Tony Fruchtl, of PennTerra Engineering, and John Campbell, of AE Works, for the redevelopment of 120 E. Beaver Ave., State College. The site is currently home to Addison Court, an 89-unit low-income apartment building. PrimeCore is the developer of the project.
Plans for the development were made public last month after residents received a letter that their leases would end in November 2026, leading to a petition started by residents, but the plans were officially presented for the first time Tuesday.
The proposed development, Encore, would look similar to the neighboring Pugh Centre. The preliminary plans show the building will be about 108,000 total square feet with residential, commercial and office space. There will be 40 residential units, each with five bedrooms. Four inclusionary housing units will be in the complex.
The project team did not directly say if Encore would cater to students, but Pugh Centre is student housing.
The plans propose 70 spaces (three will be ADA) of parking will be provided on the first floor and lower level of the building, and 10 spaces for bicycle parking, Fruchtl said. The entrance to the building is proposed off of Beaver Avenue, and parking will spiral down.
The site is zoned for commercial use, which allows for 65 foot high buildings but because it will have inclusionary housing, the developers are allowed to have an extra 10 feet. Fruchtl said the part of the building on the western most side of the building hits a 45-foot height limit.
“The building will take up most of the site. It will be … right next to the Pugh Centre building but it will be stepped. There will be a height limit of 45 feet, plus one bonus story on the west side, and then the 65, plus the bonus on the east side, right next to the Pugh Centre,” Fruchtl said.
The typical floor plan is seen on levels two through five, Campbell said, which includes eight apartment units. Levels six and seven will look a little different due to the lower roof and changes in height; those levels will have four apartments.
“The apartment units, everything, are based on the same type of unit at the Pugh Centre, which has been perceived very well by our clients,” Campbell said.
As far as energy and sustainability features, Campbell said they’re proposing an all LED lighting package and will look for energy star appliances for the project. They’re also proposing a natural gas generator, which is the same as the Pugh Centre.
“Then there’s no more sustainable strategy than to build a building that’s going to last a lot longer than a similar structure,” Campbell said. “So assuming we’re looking at the same construction type as Pugh Centre, which is a concrete block and plank building, this building is going to be made to last and it won’t need to be torn down in 25 years or replaced with something else. It’ll last a long time, and that prevents a whole building from going to a landfill in 25 years.”
For safety and security, the building will have exterior lighting similar to the Pugh Centre for pedestrians, security cameras will be throughout the building and units will have electronic access and a video intercom system.
“The students at Pugh Centre have a system where somebody can ring a bell down at the front door. They will see their face on a little screen in their apartment, and they can buzz them in. So that’s a lot more secure than just letting people wander in the building at will,” Campbell said.
The project timeline presented to the design review board shows they anticipate submitting the final plan to the borough in March, with construction beginning in 2027. It’s estimated to take about 16 months to complete.
What is Addison Court?
The current Addison Court building is a low-income complex that houses residents who are all at least 62 years old or have a disability. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) apartment building began renting units in 1994, and based on records provided by the property last month, 63 of the 89 units are leased. Reports from July 2019 show the majority of the units had section eight vouchers.
The affordability requirements of the LIHTC expired in December 2024, Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said during a previous borough council meeting, so future developments on the site are not required to be used for low-income or senior housing.
In December, Addison Court tenants received a letter from the property owner, Calibre Residential, that stated Addison Court is being considered by new investors and their leases would end in November 2026. But shortly after, the State College Borough sent its own letter that said staff contacted the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, as it administers the LIHTC program in Pennsylvania, and the two reviewed legal documents related to the property. They came to the understanding that tenants “who were under lease at Addison Court as of December 31, 2024 may not be displaced, evicted or have their lease terminated prior to December 31, 2027 without cause,” the letter states.
The letter cautioned residents that it is not legal advice, and that borough staff will contact tenants if they become aware of additional information about the sale of the building that would affect existing leases.
What happens next?
The Design Review Board sent the preliminary plans to the Planning Commission, which will review them at noon Wednesday. The Planning Commission will share their comments and questions with the project team, and the borough staff incorporates their recommendations into a letter.
The borough council does not typically review land development plans, but council members discussed the impact on residents during a meeting last month.
“Hopefully we can help and assist these individuals that live at Addison Court,” council member Kevin Kassab said. “Sadly, we all know it’s probably going to be very difficult to locate them in the borough, and I understand why they want to be in the borough. … The access to CATA and all that, shops, Target. So it is a really sad situation. So I just want to make that clear that when we look at things like this, that we look at the future and what it does to individuals.”
The property is privately owned, although the borough previously supported the project so the housing could be built. This specific project is now out of the borough’s and council’s purview, Evan Myers, borough council president, said during a previous council meeting.
State College Mayor Ezra Nanes previously said this would continue to be a topic the council will hear updates on and discuss. The council will meet again at 7 p.m. Jan. 12 for a regular meeting.
