Former Autoport Property Listed for Lease

A month after trees were cleared from the site, the former Autoport property in State College was recently advertised for lease.

A listing by Bennett Williams Commercial real estate agency describes the property at 1405 S. Atherton St. as a “new, high-end retail development,” with spaces ranging from 0.5 to 4.25 acres available.

The property includes a “hotel/multi-family pad” and inline, or main retail, space, according to the listing. Lease rates are listed as negotiable.

Bennett Williams broker Kandy Weader told StateCollege.com she could not reveal the types of tenants being sought until leases are signed.

The listing comes after a contractor removed trees from the site in mid-May, the first outward sign of activity in years at the long-dormant property.

Borough planning director Ed LeClear said his office has received no new land development plans for the site, which is zoned as a planned commercial district.

“They have reached out to discuss some zoning questions and I get the sense they are now getting much more active with the property,” LeClear said.

The Autoport was Pennsylvania’s oldest motel before closing in December 2015. The owners faced foreclosure and auction since 2014 and declared bankruptcy earlier in 2015 before selling the property to South Atherton Real Estate 1 LP for $2.1 million.

In early 2020, the new property owner submitted a land development plan for an 80,000-square foot, four-story building at the west end of the site. It would include a 122-room Home2 Suites by Hilton and eight apartments, with one inclusionary unit, to be located between the Talbot’s plaza and the former Autoport restaurant and lounge building. Three existing structures — a small office building, a commercial building to the rear of the shopping plaza and one of the motel buildings — would be demolished for the project.

Since then, however, the plan has remained active but has seen no movement and the land development plan process has not been completed. A different developer recently submitted plans for a Home2 Suites in a planned commercial park on Shiloh Road in College Township.

Montoursville-based Welteroth Property Group, the real estate investment firm associated with South Atherton Real Estate 1, lists the property on its website as The Autoport District, “an assemblage of over 10 acres,” that “presents a unique opportunity to create a development of regional and local significance combining retail, hospitality, commercial, entertainment, and residential uses where they are valued most.”