Construction will get underway soon for a condominium hotel in downtown State College, and the work will have some impacts on pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
State College Borough Council on Monday approved a long-term lane restriction and sidewalk closure on West Beaver Avenue and a covered pedestrian walkway on South Atherton Street starting in the fall for construction of the nine-story Nittany Residence Club at 321 W. Beaver Ave.
Council approved the traffic control and pedestrian safety plan measures without discussion as part of its consent agenda.
Demolition of the existing building on the site, which was most recently home to BioLife Plasma, is expected to begin this month, followed by the start of substantial construction in the fall.
From Oct. 1, 2025 to Sept. 3, 2026, the two lanes of eastbound traffic on West Beaver Avenue will shift to the right to allow for the closure of the regular left lane from just past the South Atherton Street intersection to the Cresson Alley intersection, according to information included in Monday’s agenda.
The shift will move the right travel lane into the current metered parking lane, “to create a safe buffer from the active construction zone,” Director of Public Works Sam Robbins wrote in a summary memo.
Nine street parking spaces on West Beaver Avenue will be temporarily removed to accommodate the shift during the 11-month period, according to information provided in the agenda by contractor Leonard S. Fiore.
The sidewalk along West Beaver Avenue in front of the construction site also will be closed between South Atherton Street and Cresson Alley from October 2025 to December 2026.
A covered, ADA-compliant pedestrian walkway, meanwhile, will be in place during construction along South Atherton Street from just past The Graduate Hotel to the Beaver Avenue intersection. Final design of the walkway will be submitted to borough staff for review before installation.
An extensive signage plan advising motorists and pedestrians of the changes will be implemented. Traffic control plans are designed in accordance with PennDOT guidance for lane shifts on one-way streets in urban areas, Robbins wrote.
Overall construction of the mixed-use building is expected to in the fall of 2027.
CONDO HOTEL PLANS
Nittany Residence Club LP submitted final plans in 2024 for the 95-foot-tall building with commercial space, a hotel lobby and guest amenities on the ground floor and a 70-unit luxury condo hotel on the upper eight floors.
Units will be sold to individual owners, who enter into a condo association and can use them as part-time or vacation homes but not as permanent residences. When the owner is not staying at the condo, they can choose to place it in the hotel inventory for overnight guest stays. A portion of hotel revenues will be donated to Happy Valley United, the Penn State Athletics NIL collective.
Condo sales are being listed by Erica Scott of Kissinger, Bigatel and Brower Realtors in State College.
A hotel operator hired by the condo association — which signage on fencing around the property indicates will be Scholar Hotels — will be responsible for 24-hour on-site management, general operations, marketing and branding, reservations, staffing for the lobby and front desk, concierge services and housekeeping.
The one-, two- and three-bedroom condos will have a consistent design with “high-end furniture, fixtures and equipment,” offering a “five-star hotel experience,” according to a presentation to State College Planning Commission last year. They will have lockable owners’ suites that are not accessible to guests when rented out by the hotel.
Owners will also have the option of selecting high-end “signature” and “premier” finish packages, according to the Nittany Residence Club website.
Through a collaboration with the NIL collective, unit owners will receive the highest tier membership in Happy Valley United and “exclusive access to NIL-driven events, content and promotional opportunities.” Hotel guests can also experience HVU programming and events during their stays.
Building amenities are slated to include a private fitness center and lobby coffee shop. Plans presented in 2024 showed a 4,000-square-foot rooftop but it is no longer included because of code issues, a representative for the project said.
Architectural plans labeled the retail spaces, one of which is labeled “Coffee Shop.” James Venture, of original project developer VS Development, indicated during the planning commission presentation that tenants had been identified, though they have not yet been announced, and that the retail businesses would open around the same time as the hotel.
“The way we’re operating the hotel is we want to use that space as an amenity to the hotel. So the use of that property is very vital to how we are going to operate the hotel as a luxury hotel,” Venture said. “We have local companies already identified that we sort of designed and negotiated with that are going to occupy that space for retail. They’re going to be elements that support the hotel.”
The corner of the L-shaped building is carved out to provide an area for outdoor seating for the first-floor commercial spaces.
Parking will be at surface level behind the hotel and in an underground garage. Bicycle storage and ADA spaces will be located on both levels.
Access to the hotel and parking will be from Beaver Avenue. A space for ADA and ride-share pickup and drop-off will be provided at surface level.
Update: A previous version of this article stated that hotel revenues would be shared by the unit owners and management company. A project representative said revenue-sharing will not be part of the operational model for the hotel.
