Final plans presented for new Park Forest Middle School. When could it open?
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- Project officials presented final plans for the new Park Forest Middle School.
- Construction on the new school in Patton Township could start by May.
- Officials will host more meetings to receive input from the public.
Plans to construct a new State College middle school took another step this week.
At its Monday meeting, the State College Area School District’s board of directors reviewed final plans to construct a new Park Forest Middle School along Little Lion Drive off of Valley Vista Drive in Patton Township. The roughly $130 million project will replace the 54-year-old middle school of the same name, which last received substantial renovations in 1995.
Though project officials must receive board approval, smooth over outstanding code reviews and hold required public meetings, they say construction could begin as soon as next spring with a projected opening in early 2029. Earlier plans for the project called for the school to open in time for the start of the 2028-29 school year.
Representatives from project architect Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates presented a “fly-through” video that provided viewers with a tour of the school’s hallways, classrooms and facilities using three-dimensional renderings. The video, which was omitted from public release for security purposes, provided the most detailed interior and exterior previews of the district’s planned 270,000-square-foot middle school.
Plans for the school have not received drastic changes over the past six-to-eight months, according to Jeff Straub of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, who instead described recent work as a “continuous refinement.” He said his team worked to review and incorporate feedback from a recent Patton Township Supervisors work session at which community stakeholders raised some concerns over potential traffic and safety issues.
While presenting the “fly-through” video, Straub noted key points of interest located within plans for the new school, including a “main street” layout that provides access to classrooms and the school’s gymnasium, auditorium and cafeteria. The school’s three-story classroom wing will see students physically “move up” through the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, in part to help them prepare to move to State College Area High School.
Interior renderings for the building show tall ceilings, open spaces and bountiful natural light in nearly every room. Straub said finding ways to incorporate daylight was key as the district prepares to move on from the existing Park Forest Middle School, where access to windows and natural light is less common.
The new middle school’s exterior will feature a blend of stone, masonry and both wood grain and dark bronze metal paneling.
Plans for the site call for a bus drop-off and pickup area just north of the school, while staff parking and parent drop-off and pickup sites will occur south of the building. The site will also keep tennis courts and a soccer field on the parcel’s eastern side.
State College’s school board also heard a presentation from Thomas Beckett, the managing partner of NW Financial Group, the district’s financial advisor. He laid out a few updates to the financing processes for the new Park Forest Middle School, renovations to Mount Nittany Elementary School and the district’s comprehensive facilities plan.
Though the board has yet to take action, Beckett said the group will likely recommend the district choose between two financing options for the pair of school projects. One would ask the district to contribute roughly $63 million from its capital reserves, while the other would require just $42 million from those reserves. A smaller contribution from capital reserves would require the district to build out a larger bond issue, he said.
Beckett said the upcoming financing plan should not have an outsized impact on the State College district’s strong credit rating.
“This board and this community have continually, over the past 10 years, demonstrated a more important thing than the numbers, and the more important thing is the willingness to pay for first-class facilities and to pay for education,” Beckett said. “That overwhelms the numbers. It really does. I’ve said it before: It’s a tough job to be a school director because you’ve got to make tough decisions about people’s pocketbooks, and the type of long-term planning you guys have undertaken sets you up well to do this.”
When could construction start on the new school?
The district’s governing body could vote as early as its Jan. 12 meeting to approve final designs for the new Park Forest Middle School. Before that, community members can ask questions and provide feedback on the project when State College hosts its next districtwide Facilities Master Plan forum on Jan. 6 at the existing Park Forest Middle School.
District officials will host an Act 34 public hearing on the middle school project at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16. The hearing, mandated by Pennsylvania law, requires public school districts to present project details and receive public input before finalizing major construction efforts.
Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates expects to have the project out for bidding in the spring once final code review and other approvals get smoothed out in the coming weeks. Among those hurdles include a traffic impact study and review from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as officials try to place a traffic signal at the Little Lion Drive intersection.
The project’s current timeline expects construction to begin as soon as May 15. Crews should reach substantial completion in the fall of 2028 ahead of the new Park Forest Middle School’s anticipated opening in January 2029 following students’ holiday break.
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