State College Asks Neighboring Townships for Support to Preserve Addison Court

State College has asked three neighboring townships for relatively small financial contributions to help preserve a low-income apartment building for seniors and individuals with disabilities.

Patton Township’s Board of Supervisors on Aug. 19 committed $5,000 toward the effort to acquire new low-income housing tax credits for Arnold Addison Court, 120 E. Beaver Ave. College Township and Ferguson Township also are expected to consider the request at upcoming meetings.

State College Council President Evan Myers said on Aug. 3 that the borough is nearing agreement to purchase Addison Court and work with the current owner to keep the building as affordable housing through the application for new Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

“As State College Borough Council President Evan Myers stated during Council’s August 3 meeting, the Borough has met with Addison Court’s owner over the past few months about continuing the low-income housing tax credit,” a borough spokesperson wrote in an email to StateCollege.com on Friday. “The Borough, alongside regional municipality partners, is also working to support Addison Court as it goes through the application process for the low-income housing tax credit program. As negotiations continue, the Borough cannot provide additional information at this time.”

Patton Township Manager Amy Farkas said the borough approached the townships to consider “a small donation.”

“It’s less about contributing towards the purchase and more about contributing towards the cause of keeping affordable housing for folks,” Farkas said.

Within the last year, the townships similarly collaborated to support developer PrimeCore’s application for new tax credits to acquire, preserve and rehabilitate dozens of income-restricted affordable rental homes at Sylvan View Estate in Ferguson Township. PrimeCore is working with the Centre County Housing and Land Trust on the project, and the parties sought municipal support for the complex and expensive tax credit application process.

The three townships committed contributions ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 for the Sylvan View initiative, but were not asked for contributions that large for Addison Court.

“[State College Borough Manager Tom] Fountaine indicated they weren’t looking for a substantial amount of money like we did for Sylvan,” Farkas said.

PrimeCore is also the owner of Addison Court, having finalized the purchase in June. The company initially submitted plans to the borough in December to raze the building and construct a new seven-story development that mirrors the neighboring Pugh Centre, with ground-floor commercial space and six floors of apartments geared toward college students.

In May, however, following months of criticism from community members and concerns from the building’s tenants, PrimeCore CEO Ara Kervandjian said his “plan A” was to pursue Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that would subsidize rehabilitation of the existing building and require that it remain income-limited and rent-restricted for another 40 years.

The previous affordability requirements of the tax credits used to construct the building in 1994 expired at the end of 2024, and in December tenants received notice from property manager Calibre Residential informing them that all current leases would have an end date of Nov. 30, 2026.

Staff from the borough and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, which administers the federal LIHTC program in the commonwealth, reviewed legal documents related to the property and determined a deed covenant prohibits the eviction of tenants who resided there as of Dec. 31, 2024 without cause before Dec. 31, 2027 because of a required three-year wind-down period after the affordability requirements expired.

PrimeCore’s pivot to pursuing the tax credits provided another measure of relief, but concerns have remained among tenants and their advocates that the company could still revert to its original plan for a new apartment building. Myers’ announcement that a deal for the borough to acquire the building while working with Kervandjian on new tax credits signaled hope for an end to months of uncertainty and angst for the downtown building’s residents.

Kervandjian has been successful in obtaining LIHTC for multiple low-income housing projects in Centre County, but they aren’t guaranteed. If awarded, he said he believes the building would require substantial renovations, some of which would be mandated by the tax credit program.

While demolition of Addison Court for a new student high-rise appears increasingly unlikely, one zoning issue related to such a potential building remains on the table, as of now.

If the tax credits were not awarded, Kervandjian said in May he expected PrimeCore would return to the original plan of constructing a new student apartment building, and the company has continued to seek a zoning change that would increase the height limit for potential new construction on the Addison Court site.

Addison Court is 75 feet high, but in 1999 council amended the zoning to lower the height limit for any future building to 65 feet. In 2007, council further updated the zoning to limit building heights to 45 feet on the south side of Beaver Avenue within 200 feet east and west of the 200 block of South Allen Street. The aim was to prevent tall buildings that would create a “canyon” effect at the corners of South Allen Street and Beaver Avenue.

The change bifurcated the Addison Court property so that the height limit is 65 feet on the eastern half of the site and 45 feet on the western half. PrimeCore requested a zoning text amendment to reduce the area for the 45-foot height limit to within 100 feet of Allen Street, arguing that it would maintain the intent and have no impact on other future development.

Kervandjian told the State College Planning Commission that he would make a good-faith effort to obtain the credits, but that the process is costly and time-consuming. If it were unsuccessful, he said at a meeting in June, prior to news of the borough’s possible acquisition, constructing the new building with a uniform height of 65 feet, rather than one split by differing height limits, will “be more efficient in design and in structure and aesthetically.”

The commission voted 3-2 to recommend that Borough Council deny the request.

Kervandjian added that if the tax credits weren’t awarded, the property would likely be redeveloped, whether by him or someone else, and it would not be for low-income housing.

A deal with the borough to acquire the property would prevent that from happening. Still, council voted unanimously and without discussion on Aug. 3 to schedule a public hearing on the zoning text amendment for Sept. 9.