What’s happening at this State College demolition site? Here are the plans
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Demolition work has begun at 734 S. Atherton Street for a new apartment building.
- The new building includes 126 units, 195 bedrooms and about 28,000 sq ft of self storage.
- Construction cannot begin until the developer receives final plan approval and permits.
A former office building in State College has been demolished and is now being cleared in anticipation of a long-planned, four-story apartment building coming to the site.
Plans for a mixed-use building at 734 S. Atherton St., a former Keller Williams location, include 195 bedrooms to be spread across 126 apartment units, and about 28,000 square feet of commercial space on the building’s first floor, which is anticipated to be used as self-storage.
Additionally, 209 parking spaces would be provided underneath the building, and vehicle access to the building would be from one entrance along Logan Avenue. The plans were originally submitted and conditionally approved in 2022 and included two entry points, but were revised in April 2025 following the sale of the property to new owners, who redesigned some aspects of the project.
According to Borough Senior Planner Daniel McCombie, despite the project’s revisions not yet being approved by the Borough Council, the existing building’s demolition did not require site plan approval or a zoning permit.
“The developer team won’t be able to start construction until they receive final approval and then secure zoning and building permits,” McCombie wrote in an email. “The borough is not aware when the developer team plans to seek final plan approval so they can proceed with construction.”
Jacob Unzicker of Mode 3 Architecture said in April 2025 the development had been designed with the health and wellness of residents in mind, and provides both indoor and outdoor areas for recreation and interaction.
The proposal includes a large exterior courtyard amenity space, on-site fitness and other common areas for tenant activity inside, he said during a Planning Commission meeting then. Most of the building’s lower level would be structured parking, with a lower-level lobby, mail and package rooms and secure bike storage, with some apartments in the east wing of the first floor.
The remainder of the floors, two through four, would be entirely residential floors with apartments and interior amenity spaces. The one- and two-bedroom apartments would range in size from 700 to 900 square feet, and each resident would have their own bathroom and bedroom.
Anyone can live in the apartments, but they will be furnished and rented out by bed, not unit, so it is geared more toward students, Unzicker said last year.
