A new luxury hotel at Toftrees Golf Resort is going to have to wait a little longer.
Construction of the new hotel will not begin in the spring as previously anticipated, and guest rooms in the existing hotel at the resort are expected to reopen by the end of March, Plato Ghinos, president of Toftrees Golf Resort operator Shaner Hotels, told StateCollege.com.
Guest rooms in the existing Toftrees hotel, which will be demolished for the new facility, closed in December in anticipation of construction. The Field Burger & Tap restaurant, which was previously slated to temporarily close for construction of the new hotel at the end of March, and the golf course remain open.
Ghinos attributed the change of plans to the design and permitting processes not yet being finalized. He said he expects to have a better sense of the timeline for construction “by the end of the year.” ‘
Guest rooms and The Field are expected to remain open until design and permitting for the new hotel are finalized. The golf course will remain open throughout construction.
The new hotel had been expected to open in 2025, according to a message first posted in December on the resort’s website.
“When we reopen, we will be introducing a new level of hospitality and accommodations never before seen in Happy Valley,” the message said.
Plans submitted by property owner State College Friends LLC call for a new five-story, 154-room hotel — 52 more rooms than the current hotel — that is expected to join Marriott’s Autograph Collection of independently operated luxury hotels. Bob Poole, State College Friends managing member, told the Patton Township Board of Supervisors in 2022 that the plan is for “a really high-end resort.”
The estimated $50 million redevelopment project at the 51-year-old resort will also include a conference center, expanded meeting space, private dining room, a 4,000-square-foot luxury spa, a pool, a tennis court, pickleball courts, a private dining room, courtyards and event lawns and a new clubhouse and a pro shop.
Poole said in 2022 that the project aims to attract more leisure and business travelers to the area.
A land development plan for the project was submitted to Patton Township in June 2023, but has not come before the township’s planning commission and board of supervisors for approval. The board of supervisors reviewed a sketch plan for the project in May 2023.
According to information presented to the township in 2022, the expansion and upgrade is projected create an additional 137 permanent full-time jobs representing $7.3 million in annual employee wage compensation, as well as 399 temporary construction jobs generating $26.4 million in labor income.
Patton Township supervisors approved a zoning change in January 2023 to increase the maximum building height from 50 feet to 75 feet on the resort property Poole explained that expanding upward instead of outward would allow for a more efficient experience for guests and staff, enable better stormwater management and increase green space to be used for purpose-specific guest lawns.
Supervisors also approved increasing the number of permitted residential units in the Toftrees Planned Community to allow 50 residential units to be constructed within the 140,000-square-foot resort property. No residential units currently exist on the property, but Poole told the board the new homes would help to reduce the overall cost of the redevelopment project.
General access to the renovated property will be from a new road off Toftrees Avenue west of the current access point at Country Club Lane. The new road, which will be across the street from the entrance to Turtle Creek apartments, will remedy visibility issues experienced by drivers using Country Club Lane, which will remain only as a service driveway.
The project received a $2.5 million state grant from Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to support selected demolition, infrastructure improvements, utilities, landscaping, lighting and other site work.
