Gazette The Centre County
www.CentreCountyGazette.com
FALL FUN
As autumn quickly approaches, local groups and organizations are preparing for their festivals. Inside today’s edition, readers can find a plethora of events and happenings all around Centre County in the coming weeks./Pages 30-31
September 14-20, 2017
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Volume 9, Issue 37
Downtown parking lot listed as ‘build to suit’ By SEAN YODER syoder@centrecountygazette.com
STATE COLLEGE — Downtown State College Properties, under the Friedman Real Estate Group, recently erected a “build to suit” at the parking lot between South Garner Street and East Calder Way. According to online records, four parcels there are owned by the Friedman Group. The fifth, to the south along Beaver Avenue, is owned by the Hillel Foundation. It was previously the site of a bank. Ed LeClear, planning and community development director for State College Borough, said no formal plans have been submitted for the site, but there have been informal discussions among a group of developers concerning Historical and Architectural Review Board guidelines for building materials. A representative from Friedman Real Estate did not return a call for comment before press time. State College is the hub of a growing Centre County, one of the few counties seeing population
growth in a state that is 43rd out of 50 in the nation. With that has come rapid development with high-rise apartment buildings, national retailers and new eateries. With the new HARB and an ongoing rewrite of zoning rules, borough elected officials and managers have been trying to coordinate this growth while maintaining the downtown charm and support local businesses. Borough council has legislated through zoning where high-rise, or high density, can plant its feet. The “core” of downtown is largely protected through height restrictions, with high density pushed into a sort of U shape to the east, west and south. LeClear said in an earlier interview the demand for student housing has not yet been met and there is a lack of supply in the market. However, there are strict rules on development. Larger buildings must be mixed-use and require a 30,000-square-foot lot to get up to the highest levels of density. LeClear said many of the obvious places to build such large buildings, like The Rise and The Metropolitan, have already been developed.
SEAN YODER/The Gazette
FOUR PARCELS make up this parking lot along Garner Street. A “build to suit” sign was recently installed.
Village at Penn State looks to expand, acquire bonds
CENTRE COUNTY REMEMBERS
By SEAN YODER syoder@centrecountygazette.com
GEOFF RUSHTON/StateCollege.com
THERE WERE 2,977 flags representing each victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks placed on Old Main Lawn as part of a 9/11 memorial. Centre County honored the victims of the attacks, as well as their families and emergency responders, during a ceremony. Read more on page 7.
The Village at Penn State in State College is looking to expand its facilities in eastern Patton Township. On Sept. 12, the Liberty Lutheran Development Corporation, the owner of Village at Penn State, asked the Centre County Commissioners to issue $12 million worth of revenue bonds for the project. The Centre County General Authority will undertake the financing of the project. John Barnum, chief financial officer at Liberty Lutheran, said the Village is “doing extremely well from where it came from the bankruptcy” five years ago. The next step has been long in the planning, Barnum said. Plans consist of three main
pieces. The first, which is already under way through internal funding, is a community and general assembly room for residents. Liberty Lutheran also has plans for six new villas and two cottages at the site at 330 Lions Hill Road, State College. The final piece is Palmer Park, named for Arnold Palmer, and Barnum said the Palmer Development Company is working to develop part of the parcel to feature a small golfing and greenery area for other activities, such as bocce ball. Right now, the costs for the project are approaching about $11 million, Barnum said. The county commissioners voted immediately to approve the issue of bonds. Village, Page 8
SCASB discusses updated school day proposal By GEOFF RUSHTON StateCollege.com
STATE COLLEGE — The State College Area School Board on Sept. 11 received and discussed an updated proposal for changes to the school day beginning with the 2018-19 school year. A proposal was first brought to the board in April that would extend the elementary school day and provide a later start time for middle schools and the high Police Blotter ..................... 2 Death Notices ................... 6
school. Elementary schools currently start at 8:44 a.m. and end at 2:50 p.m. Under the revised proposal, the elementary school day would be extended by 44 minutes, starting at 8:10 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. Middle school start and end times would shift from the current 8:10 a.m. to 3:14 p.m. to 8:40 a.m. to 3:42 p.m. High school times would move from 8:10 a.m. to 3:16 p.m. to 8:40 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.
Opinion ........................... 10 Health & Wellness ........... 12
Community ..................... 14 Gazette Gameday ........... 19
According to the district, the proposal was created in collaboration with teachers, staff, parents and community members to align “with the district’s strategic goals to engage and support the whole student, foster continuous growth for every child, and close individual achievement and opportunity gaps.” The goal isn’t to increase elementary student workload, but to offer more time to learn what’s being taught, district administrators said. Teachers have asked for Sports ............................... 24 Around & In Town .......... 32
more instruction time for core subjects, and the proposal would add more time for art, library and physical education. It also would add a fifth special subject period per week for world languages and additional teacher planning time. The current elementary school day of six hours and four minutes is less than the average length among peer districts at 6.5 hours, according to SCASD. SCASB, Page 6
What’s Happening .......... 35 Business ........................... 37
Deed Transfers ................ 38 Classifieds ........................ 39