Toftrees Resort Owners Eyeing Major Redevelopment

A major redevelopment project to upgrade and expand the 50-year-old Toftrees Golf Resort is in the planning stages, according to information presented to the Patton Township Board of Supervisors on Wednesday night.

The redeveloped “leisure and conferencing center,” would have 150 hotel rooms within the 140,000 square-foot resort and surrounding grounds, according to a summary included in the meeting agenda.

Amenities would include meeting rooms and a conference center, the golf course and club house, an outdoor pool, a 4,000-square-foot luxury spa, a restaurant, private dining room and additional outdoor spaces for events.

The current resort has a 102-room hotel with related amenities, event spaces, The Field Burger & Tap and the 18-hole golf course with a pro shop.

“It’s a very exciting project. The development team there may be investing as much as $50 million,” LeRoy Kline, president of project consultant Delta Development Group, told the board.

According to the summary, the project would 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.

“The redevelopment of the Toftrees Golf Resort elevates the location to a national tourist destination for leisure and a hub for industry conferences, weddings and large group events,” the project summary states.

Supervisors unanimously approved the township’s sponsoring of two state grant applications related to the site redevelopment and improvements to the Toftrees Avenue corridor.

The $2.5 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant would be used for site work to prepare for the property redevelopment. Those funds would be used for selected demolition, internal road construction, infrastructure improvements, parking areas, stormwater management systems, on-site amenities, engineering and design, construction management, contingency, interim financing costs and permitting.

A government authority is required to sponsor RACP grant applications, but Patton Township would bear no cost or liability for that grant. State College Friends, the Toftrees ownership group, would provide matching funds.

The other application is for a $2.159 million Multimodal Transportation Fund grant to construct what Township Manager Doug Erickson called “long needed upgrades to Toftrees Avenue.”

Those improvements include rebuilding and widening Toftrees Avenue, dedicated 5-foot wide bike lanes parallel to both sides of the road, new 5-foot concrete sidewalk on south side of Toftrees Avenue, ADA pedestrian ramps, rail trail improvements, stormwater management upgrades, new streetlights, landscaping and a new access drive to the resort to accommodate the expansion.

“We’re trying to increase the safety there,” Kline said. “There’s a sight visibility issue when you try to get in and out. We have a plan to open that up and create a boulevard. I think that project will be well-received.”

Patton Township similarly sponsored successful RACP and transportation grant applications in recent years for Nittany Valley Sports Centre’s development off of Bernel Road.

Work on the resort redevelopment likely won’t be getting underway anytime soon. In addition to the grant process and site improvements, the project also will need to go through the township’s land development process of staff review, planning commission recommendation and board of supervisors approval.

“Nothing we’re approving today or considering today is an approval in any way of the plan for the resort,” Erickson said.

The redevelopment planning comes as work is set to begin for the first building at the nearby 600-acre Toftrees West, a long-planned development expected to include residential units retail, restaurants and office space with a town center and parkland areas.

Mount Nittany Health’s new outpatient medical center, which will be located in the town center area, will be the first building at Toftrees West after receiving approval from the supervisors in March. It is expected to open in late 2023.