Much of the space occupied by Boots Dairyette, in the Graduate apartment building on West Beaver Avenue, is being converted for residential use, according to renovation plans.
Boots, a take-out eatery and convenience store, closed earlier this year without any apparent public explanation. Attempts by StateCollege.com and sister site OnwardState.com to reach Boots and the Graduate’s ownership group have been unsuccessful. (State College-based GN Associates controls the building.)
But visible renovation work has unfolded this summer inside the first floor of the Graduate, where Boots had its entrance at 401 W. Beaver Ave., near the northwest corner of the Atherton Street-Beaver Avenue intersection.
Plans filed with State College borough show that much of the Boots space is being turned into apartments. A portion of the space is being retained for commercial use, the plans show.
It’s unclear whether Boots will return to occupy that commercial square footage.
Boots was one of the first State College convenience stores when it opened on West Beaver Avenue in 1959, according to ‘Story of the Century,’ a local historical book by Jo Chesworth. An earlier building that housed it — at the Atherton Street-Beaver Avenue intersection — was leveled to make way for the Graduate apartment building roughly two decades ago.
Boots relocated to the first floor of the student apartment building when construction was complete.
