Local business and tourism leaders celebrated the opening of Centre County’s newest hotel along the booming Benner PIke corridor with a ribbon-cutting on Thursday morning.
The dual-branded Avid and Candlewood Suites by IHG at 132 Amberleigh Lane in Benner Township offers short- and long-term stay options across its 94 rooms. Developed by ownership group SAI 21, the hotel fully opened in late fall with the 42 short-stay rooms on the Avid side welcoming guests for the weekend of the Penn State-Indiana football game. The 52 long-term room Candlewood Suites opened slightly earlier, general manager Drew Patel said.
This concept of a long term stay with a short term stay is really catching on and one of the first in the nation to do it and it’s happening right here in Centre County, so we appreciate that,” said Greg Scott, president and CEO of the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County.
Hotel amenities include an indoor pool, fitness center, lobby with a small market, complimentary breakfast and an outdoor gazebo area with grills.
“[The gazebo] attracts a lot of long-term stay guests, so anyone that’s here that wants to grill out, a lot of construction people use that,” Patel said.
Response to Avid and Candlewood Suites has been strong. The busy upcoming weekend at Penn State that includes the first hockey games at Beaver Stadium is fully booked, Patel added.
“It’s picking up, and we’re glad to be here,” he said. “.. We’re getting a lot of support from the community and we’re grateful for that.”
Avid and Candlewood Suites is the first of several new hotels coming online in Centre County, including one about a half-mile south on Benner Pike.
A Tru by Hilton, which is being developed by Hospitality Asset Management, broke ground around the same time as Avid and Candlewood Suites in June 2024 and is expected to open in the coming weeks.
Patel, though, said the competition is healthy and that there is a supportive spirit among the businesses.
“t might affect them. It might affect us, but we’re all a team,” he said. “We’re all here to support each other and grow together.”
Other hotels in development around the region include a Home2 Suites by Hilton along Shiloh Road in College Township, a TownePlace Suites by Marriott at the corner of Bernel and Fox Hill roads in Patton Township, a Canopy by Hilton as part of the State College Town Centre project on South Allen Street, the Nittany Residence Club condo hotel at the corner of South Atherton Street and West Beaver Avenue in State College and an unnamed boutique national brand hotel as part of the Bellefonte Waterfront project.
Fritz Smith, president and CEO of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, said that new hotels like Avid and Candlewood Suites are vital to Centre County’s tourism economy, which according to the Pennsylvania Tourism Office is the second-fastest growing in the commonwealth.
The county saw a record 5.1 million visitations and $1 billion in visitor spending in 2024.
“There is a lot of positive progress occurring throughout the county right now, and certainly in Bellefonte and along the Benner Pike corridor,” Smith said. “Additional lodging options complement this growth and are both reflective of and supportive of a strong visitor economy.”
“We are very pleased that [SAI 21] made this investment because the tourism industry is growing,” he added. “There are a lot of hotels opening over the course of the next couple of years, so we at the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau and CBIICC, it is our job to make sure that we are able to make sure that that investment is successful and we will. I promise you that we will be working hard to help fill these rooms here.”
Avid and Candlewood Suites joins the growing commercial development on Benner Pike, just off Interstate 99 between Bellefonte and State College. Over the past decade, the corridor has seen new construction for Giant supermarket, McDonald’s, Rutter’s, Dunkin’. A Chipotle is under construction at the Paradise Shopping Center, and Wawa has broken ground for its first Centre County location, directly across from the Sheetz that was rebuilt just over a year ago.
Further south in the Benner Commerce Park, Amazon completed construction of a new 122,000-square-foot distribution warehouse.
“[Avid and Candlewood Suites is] really demonstrating the continued progress and economic growth we’re experiencing here in Centre County and that. connection between Bellefonte and State College that Benner Pike is really becoming now in this area,” Scott said.
