College Township Planning Commission on Tuesday reviewed a sketch plan for what would be the second business in a new Shiloh Road corridor commercial development.
Blair County-based Park Home Furniture plans to build a 40,268-square-foot store in the Shiloh Commercial Park at the intersection of East Trout Road and Shiloh Road, according to the early plan presented by Mark Torretti of project engineer PennTerra.
It would be part of the second phase of development for the commercial development on properties owned by Maxwell Truck and Equipment’s Ed Maxwell. Following a subdivision approval for the commercial park in 2024, the first phase commenced in 2025 with the start of construction on the northwest side for a Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel, which is projected to be completed in the first half of this year.
The Park Home Furniture store would be located on a 3.63-acre lot at the southeast rear corner of the development, adjacent to the Christ Community Church property. Torretti said a land swap with the church is currently in process for two small pieces of property that will better serve both parties.
The plan includes a 460-foot delivery area and loading dock at the southeast back corner of the store, and Torretti said the site will have limited delivery truck traffic.
It’s more of a showroom facility,” he said. “It’s not going to be a big warehouse. that they’re going to be having a lot of trucks shipping furniture out. There will be deliveries, just off the showroom, maybe once every week or so. But that’s about it.”
Site access from East Trout Road and layout are designed to facilitate ease of movement for semi-trailers that do service the store, Torretti said.
The current township ordinance requires 80 parking spaces, the plan for the store includes a front parking lot with 57 spaces, a rear parking lot with eight spaces and a potential future lot with 15 spaces. Torretti said Park Home Furniture’s two other locations in Duncansville and Johnstown have 65 spaces, and they may request a parking reduction or, depending on time, a planned new zoning ordinance for the Dale Summit area might reduce the required parking for a building like the one proposed to 40 spaces
In accordance with a condition of the original Shiloh Commercial Park subdivision plan, a sidewalk connection will be constructed from the furniture store property to the UEC Theatres 12 property line on Premiere Drive.
Public utilities will come from East Trout Road, and an off-site basin will manage stormwater. The furniture store will also trigger the development of further road infrastructure within the commercial park.
The sketch plan is not a formal application and is intended to garner feedback before a land development plan is submitted. College Township Council is also scheduled to review the sketch plan during its meeting on Thursday.
Torretti anticipates a revised overall subdivision plan will be submitted in April, followed by a phase two subdivision plan and land development plan for Park Home Furniture in June. Construction is tentatively targeted to begin in the fall.
The Shiloh Commercial Park includes eight lots. Though a lot adjacent to the furniture store is labeled on the sketch plan as “fast food,” Torretti said no businesses have been identified for any of the lots, aside from Home2 Suites and Park Home Furniture.
The commercial park is part of a development boom in the Dale Summit area and particularly along the Shiloh Road corridor.
Across the road from the Maxwell property, approved the first phase of a 48-acre development that will create hundreds of residential units in fee-simple townhomes, rental townhomes and apartments, neighborhood amenities and a commercial lot for uses to be determined.
Township officials said in December that potential developments are also in the works for large tracts further north on Shiloh Road in Colllege and Benner townships, the formal plans had not yet been submitted.
Developers of the major parcels along Shiloh Road are working with local officials and PennDOT on a coordinated plan for accommodating a significant increase in traffic that is expected to accompany growth in the corridor in the coming years.
