For a project that’s been nearly a decade in the making, local developers are planning to build a boutique hotel and restaurant along with a retail and residential building on the Bellefonte Waterfront property.
Bellefonte Waterfront Associates — which is led by Torron Group’s Tom Songer and Hospitality Asset Management Company’s Mark Morath — have entered into an agreement with Bellefonte Borough and Bellefonte Area Industrial Development Authority to buy and develop four acres along Water Street between High and Lamb streets.
The sale does not include the walkway and wall along Spring Creek, which were completed in 2016 and will remain owned by the borough. It also does not include the adjacent Gamble Mill property, which is still for sale.
‘We’re tremendously excited about the future and the next phase of the project,’ Borough Manager Ralph Stewart said at a press conference on Wednesday
Songer said the goal is to submit land development plans for the project to the borough by Nov. 1 with construction on the hotel beginning in the spring. Construction would take about nine to 12 months and then work would begin in 2020 on the second building.
Both the hotel and mixed-use building will be six or seven stories, about 60 to 70 feet high. The hotel will be constructed at the High Street end of the property and will have about 80 guest rooms. A first floor restaurant will have indoor and outdoor seating, with meeting and banquet rooms on the second floor. A balcony on the second floor will provide views of Talleyrand Park and Spring Creek.
Entrance to the hotel will be from Dunlap Street, which will be reconstructed and will be two ways. For the restaurant, Morath described the plans as ‘comfortable,’ and ‘local,’ and said it would ‘not be a high expense point for individuals.’
‘We really want to become the hub of hospitality,’ Morath said. ‘I think that corner, once again after all the years its been vacant, just might be able to do it.’
The property formerly contained the historic Bush House Hotel, built in 1868. It was destroyed by a fire in 2006 and the property has been mostly vacant since.
Loss of the Bush House prompted the borough to evaluate options for the property and a study completed in 2011 with community input envisioned redevelopment with a boutique hotel, businesses and possibly housing. But first the land needed to be raised out of the flood plain.
The Cerro Brass warehouse and old sign factory were torn down and the historic freight warehouse moved to Talleyrand Park to raise the land and create space for development. It also led to the new walkway and wall along the creek.
Borough Council President Joanne Tost-Vasey said Bellefonte Waterfront Associates’ plans for the property align with the 2011 study.
‘The contract between Bellefonte and Bellefonte Waterfront Associates is a good plan,’ Tosti-Vasey said. ‘It meets the vision created back in 2011. The buyers have agreed to submit their conceptual designs of the site and any buildings they are proposing to the borough so that the borough … can review exterior designs to make sure they complement the historic character of Bellefonte.’
Parking and open space will be in the middle of the property, and Songer said they’re studying the feasibility of a parking structure, which, if included, would include retail and office space on the first floor. The other building, at the Lamb Street end, will have retail and office space on the first floor, with one- and two-bedroom condos on the upper floors.
The hotel and mixed-use building will be highly energy-efficient and will have masonry exteriors, Songer said. The development also will include a significant amount of open space.
Songer and Morath said that as plans are being developed, they want to hear from the community and encouraged residents with ideas to contact Stewart or Assistant Borough Manager Don Holderman.
‘It’s going to be a unique project in a lot of ways, but we do need to hear from the community,’ Songer said.
‘This can really lead us right into a total renaissance of downtown Bellefonte. We think it can be good for all downtown businesses and we’re looking forward to a successful project.’
Sketch plan for the Bellefonte Waterfront property site.
