Armory Up for Sale in Bellefonte

BOTH BELLEFONTE Armory buildings are now for sale, including the first one ever built (shown above). Located on North Spring Street, the property was listed for $990,000 by a local realtor. The second armory, built on East Bishop Street in the 1930s, has been on the market for several years.

A piece of Bellefonte history is up for sale.

The old Armory, a unique building located in the heart of town at 301 N. Spring St., has been listed by RE/MAX Centre Realty for $990,000.

The 29,539-square-foot building was built in 1894 by Col. W. Fred Reynolds and then used by the local National Guard. It was the largest National Guard Armory in Pennsylvania at the time, according to Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association.

It served as Bellefonte Armory until the early 1930s when it was purchased by Bellefonte Area School District. A new Bellefonte Armory was built on East Bishop Street at that time.

“They (the school district) used it as a school up until the late 70s or early 80s when Trinity Investments bought it,” said RE/MAX real estate broker Marc A. McMaster. Trinity Investments was later bought out by a larger company that then sold the space to the current owner, who has kept it as an investment property.

The building, which was “built like a fort,” was renovated by Trinity Investments in the late 1980s, with “no expense spared,” according to the realtor. Three floors of offices space are available and an additional upper floor for storage. There are also two parking lots.

“The place is in amazing shape and in good condition. So, I see a lot of the comments on Facebook saying that is a lot of money for a fixer upper.’ But that place is in amazing shape,” said McMaster. “It is absolutely beautiful. One of my favorite buildings in all of Centre County and I’ve been in a lot of them.”

Currently, there is some leased office space in the building, said McMaster, but much of it is open. The building is zoned residential, so potential buyers could continue to use it as office space, or, it could be converted to apartments.

“Or even a house,” said McMaster. “Someone could live there … yeah a 30,000-square-foot house.”

The building has been on the market for about three weeks.

It is not the only armory building for sale in Bellefonte. The East Bishop Street armory has been on the market for years and includes three buildings on the nearly 7-acre property near the high school. It has been sitting vacant since the National Guard moved to a new location in 2005. Bellefonte Borough bought the land in 2013 for $705,555,01 and has been looking for potential buyers.

This story appears in the March 3-9 edition of the Centre County Gazette.