Residential and commercial interest in the planned Fraser Centre complex has gained momentum in the past couple weeks, the lead developer said Thursday.
Since his Oct. 10 announcement that project construction should begin this winter, developer Jack Kay said, more and more parties — namely potential tenants — have been drawn to the effort.
We ‘have always felt there are a number of prospects sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see if this is going to come together,’ Kay told the borough Redevelopment Authority in a conference call. ‘ … The level of interest has picked up,’ giving project leaders the sense that ‘more people want to be part of this project.’
About three years behind schedule, Fraser Centre will be a multi-use, 12-level development covering just more than 230,000 square feet, according to project plans. The rough economy had been a primary impediment that kept organizers from breaking ground on schedule.
But in recent weeks, as Kay announced Oct. 10, the development group reached the 80-percent occupancy threshold that should enable financing and, in turn, groundbreaking for the project.
Kay is the president of York-based Susquehanna Real Estate, which has partnered with the Downtown State College Improvement District to organize the development effort. Construction is expected to last 22 to 24 months, transforming the 100 block of South Fraser Street into a higher-end street-scape.
Among the insights into the project that Kay shared Thursday:
- The cinema element of the project remains its anchor. Plans still call for 10 screens. Penn State expects to use cinema spaces for instruction during daytime and other off-hours.
- Two floors of Fraser Centre — some 30,000 square feet in all — are now committed as office space, Kay said. Penn State has confirmed separately that it will occupy two office-space floors of Fraser Centre, though it has not announced which university operations may move into the facility.
- The top four floors of Fraser Centre are reserved for condominiums. As of early October, about a third of the 28 planned condos were spoken for. On Thursday, Kay said the majority of condo buyers aren’t local.
‘The majority are out-of-town buyers who I would say — if I’m not mistaken — are all either alumni or have some relationship with the university,’ Kay said. He said some other condo buyers are local business owners with ‘long-term (stakes) in the community.’
‘For those,’ Kay said, ‘it’s a primary residence.’
- Project planners have increased the amount of street-level commercial and retail space included in the project plans, Kay said. The total on that front is now in the range of 18,000 to 20,000 square feet. Kay has not disclosed exactly which tenants are likely there, but he did allude Thursday — in general terms — to restaurants and other commercial entities that would diversify the downtown.
- Two escalators are expected as part of the commercial portions of the project, Kay said.
Also Thursday, borough Planning Director Carl Hess said some Fraser Street closures will be possible during the Fraser Centre construction process. ‘Staging is one of the issues we have to work through,’ he said.
At times, Hess said, parts of Fraser Street may close for a few hours at a time, or a lane of Beaver Avenue may need to be closed briefly. Details have yet to be sorted out.
On another front Redevelopment Authority member Jawaid Haider said he doesn’t think the two adjacent borough parking garages — on Fraser Street and Beaver Avenue, respectively — will be ample to serve Fraser Centre’s needs. Those garages combined have about 850 spaces, Hess said.
The only in-house parking at Fraser Centre will be designated for residents.
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