The former Denny’s location on North Atherton Street has been dormant since the restaurant closed in February 2017, but a proposal submitted in May to Patton Township would bring two new tenants to the site.
Chipotle Mexican Grill and a Sleep Number mattress store would be the tenants of a new retail building at 1860 N. Atherton St., according to a land development plan presented on Monday night to Patton Township Planning Commission.
The existing restaurant building, constructed in 1985, would be demolished to make way for a new 5,402 square-foot building on the .69 acre site. Chipotle would have 1,100 square feet of indoor seating and 300 square feet of outdoor seating. The current parking lot would be removed and replaced with 37 new asphalt parking spaces.
The new tenants wouldn’t be the first Mexican restaurant or mattress store in the immediate neighborhood. In the recently constructed, adjacent plaza, Qdoba Mexican Eats and Mattress Firm opened last year at 1908 N. Atherton St.. Moe’s Southwest Grill is located across the street in Trader Joe’s Plaza and Mattress Warehouse is at 1803 N. Atherton St.
It also would be the second Chipotle in the Centre Region, joining the location at 116 Heister Street in State College.
Wisconsin-based Excel Engineering, which is the design firm for the project and submitted the plans for the new building, has made a request to PennDOT to allow a right turn out from the parking lot onto North Atherton Street. Current entrance to the site is from North Atherton Street or from Cornflower Lane at the rear of the site. However, exiting directly from the parking lot onto Atherton has long been prohibited and instead requires using Cornflower Lane to access Park Forest Avenue or the traffic signal near Panda Express at 1910 N. Atherton St.
A right-turn only exit from the parking lot onto Atherton would require approval through PennDOT’s Highway Occupancy Permitting process.
Thomas English Retail Real Estate, based in Indianapolis, is redeveloping the property. According to the company’s website, it acquires and develops retail space in proven trade areas for national tenants.
Planning commission recommended the development plan to the Patton Township Board of Supervisors for approval, with conditions including PennDOT approval for the Atherton Street exit and a sidewalk connecting the building to the sidewalk along North Atherton Street.
Ken Soder, Patton Township zoning officer, said the supervisors likely will consider the proposal at their June 20 meeting.
