Restaurants, Retail and More Included in Preliminary Development Plan for Former Autoport Property

Updated 3:25 p.m. March 30.

Plans are in the works to bring new life to the long-dormant former Autoport site in State College.

The owner of the South Atherton Street property has submitted to the borough a preliminary land development plan that includes multiple new commercial buildings to be constructed in phases on the former site of the Autoport’s motel and lounge.

A 6,538-square foot convenience store with fueling canopy and 14 pumps is planned at the southeastern end of the property for phase one of the development, according to the plans from project engineer PennTerra. Phase two includes a cluster with a 2,033-square-foot restaurant with a drive- thru and five retail buildings ranging from 1,333 to 2,400 square feet.

Phase three shows another, 5,484-square-foot restaurant with drive-thru ordering and pick-up canopies.

The fourth phase appears to be related to an existing storage building and parking, though details of planned improvements were not clear.

Plans also show an access driveway with a proposed signalized intersection on South Atherton Street between the phase one and phase two developments. New landscaping and a stone retaining wall along the length of the property fronting South Atherton Street are depicted in the land development plan and renderings, as well.

Borough Planning Director Ed LeClear said the developer has not provided the borough with names of specific tenants. Gregory Welteroth, whose South Atherton Real Estate 1 LP is the owner and developer of the property, did not immediately respond to a request for information on Thursday.

Preliminary plans were originally scheduled to be reviewed by the State College Design Review Board and the Planning Commission in March, then postponed to April. However, the developer has since asked that the review be rescheduled until a date to be determined after a revised plan has been submitted. borough senior planner Daniel McCombie 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, Welteroth’s company submitted a land development plan for an 80,000-square foot, four-story building on a parcel separate from the new plan at the northwest end of the site. It would have included a 122-room Home2 Suites by Hilton and eight apartments. The plan was reviewed but was subsequently withdrawn by the developer.

Numerous trees were cleared from the site in May 2024, and a month later Bennett Williams Commercial real estate agency listed parcels on the property for lease as part of a “new, high-end retail development.”