Another new restaurant is in the works for West College Avenue in State College.
Pittsburgh area-based BRGR, which specializes in gourmet burgers and handmade shakes, plans to open a location at 122 W. College Ave., the bank building last occupied by Citizens’ Bank, which closed the branch in 2016.
‘We’re excited to be moving into State College and are thrilled to have found such a great space for BRGR,’ said Rick Stern, owner of S+P Restaurant Group, which operates BRGR and several other popular Pittsburgh restaurants. ‘We look forward to bringing our gourmet burgers and handmade shakes to everyone there.’
Dan Ayer, spokesperson for S+P Restaurant Group, said that the goal is to open the State College location around the beginning of January.
BRGR also will include a bar. This will be the first location for the restaurant outside of the Pittsburgh area, where it has locations on the East Side, Downtown and at PNC Park, as well as in Cranberry and at the Galleria of Mount Lebanon.
‘We’ve been looking in a lot of different spots for awhile,’ Ayer said. ‘We wanted to expand the brand. We know State College is a great market. Obviously there’s a lot of people from Pittsburgh who make their way up there for school or have a close connection, so there’s some awareness of the brand. We just think it’s a nice place for us to bring gourmet burgers and handmade shakes.’
BRGR has a wide selection of burgers, with several kinds beef, as well as turkey, salmon, tuna, bison and falafel and a plethora of combinations. It also offers about 10 different kinds of classic shakes along with spiked shakes and floats. And if burgers aren’t what you’re hungry for, there’s a full menu of apps — including wings, poutine, tacos, bacon mac and cheese and more — and salads.
It’s the third new restaurant this year to announce plans to open on the 100 block of West College Avenue. Another western Pennsylvania-based restaurant, Eat’n Park-affiliated Hello Bistro, will open in the former Diner location at 126 W. College Ave. Snap Custom Pizza is moving in at 132 W. College Ave., the former home of Herwig’s Austrian Bistro, which closed in May.
The former bank building where BRGR will operate dates back to the turn of the 20th century.
