After site demolition, construction of new State College student housing complex underway
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- Groundbreaking ceremony marks Retreat at Westerly site; construction began in October.
- Project has 142 townhomes/garden units, 10,500 sq ft clubhouse, 417 spaces
- Developer cites local management, gave $10,000 to health foundation, leasing fall 2026
Construction is underway at Westerly Parkway Plaza for a long-planned 11.2-acre student housing development, and officials gathered Thursday for a ceremonial groundbreaking.
Construction on The Retreat at Westerly, which is being developed by Athens, Ga.-based Landmark Properties, in partnership with Golden Primera and Peninsula Investments, started in October. Demolition of some of the plaza’s empty commercial spaces began in January.
Those commercial spaces used to hold tenants like Goodwill, Fuji & Jade Garden, My Thai and The Frame Factory and Gallery, although those businesses all vacated their properties following the approval of the complex’s development plans in 2024.
Businesses on the other side of the plaza, including Weis, are not affected by the plans. In fact, new tenants have moved into several spaces in recent years, including Crunch Fitness, the Comic Cove and the restaurant Fatoum Bistro.
“We have been honored to have the opportunity to invest in Happy Valley,” Landmark Development Manager Nick Lev said at Thursday’s event. “The Retreat at Westerly will be our fifth ground-up construction project in Happy Valley, and its construction is being managed by project managers and site supervisors who are local to the area and work out of our State College satellite office.”
When completed, the complex will have 142 townhomes and garden-style units, in a mix of two to five bedrooms. In total, the project will provide 546 beds.
Also planned for the site is a 10,500-square-foot clubhouse that will include a resort-style pool, pickleball court, sauna and cold plunge, Jumbotron, study lounges, fitness center, grilling and fire pit areas, multi-sport simulator and additional green space for outdoor recreation.
On-site parking is planned for 417 cars, as well as storage for bikes and scooters, and a CATA shuttle stop is also planned on the premises.
“We are going to have what I think will be — having seen all the designs presented in the vision — a really beautiful project that will integrate nicely with the surroundings, and be nice for residents and people who use this area,” State College Mayor Ezra Nanes said. “There’s a grocery store, there’s a gym, it’s close to campus. It’ll be easy for the people who come to live here to get everywhere they need to go, and potentially without even having a car.”
Nanes added that the project will be positive for the area for a number of reasons, including the economic growth it will generate, how it will aid the borough in its need for additional housing and that it’s being developed on one of the borough’s “prime” pieces of real estate.
Thursday’s ceremonial groundbreaking also celebrated a $10,000 donation from Landmark Properties to the Mount Nittany Health Foundation, which will help support the Children’s Advocacy Center of Centre County.
The health foundation’s executive director, Adrienne Krasowitz, thanked Landmark for their “generous” donation, and noted that she was looking forward to working with the developer “in the years to come.”
The complex’s construction is expected to end at the start of the 2027 academic year. Additionally, the Retreat’s website states that leasing for the apartment is set to begin in fall 2026.
In a post-event interview with the media, Lev addressed potential concerns about building such a large development when nationwide college enrollment rates have been dropping in recent years, sharing his belief that in State College, that’s a non-issue.
“Even though there might be less total college students nationwide, we do not anticipate there to be a reduction in enrollment at schools like [Penn State],” Lev said. “And so, because of that, we continue to believe that this is very strong student housing market.”
The developer also owns and operates 2,483 beds across four other State College area properties — The Station State College, The Legacy at State College, The Metropolitan at State College and The Standard at State College.
Landmark is also constructing The Mark, a 12-story, multi-family residential and student apartment building in downtown State College with commercial and retail space. The developer previously anticipated that building to open in August 2028.