With Luxury Hotel On Hold, Patton Township Developer Plans For Restaurants

The upscale P Hotel and Spa planned for Patton Township remains on hold, but its developer appears to be pushing ahead with more immediate plans for two nearby restaurants.

Developer Waddle Real Estate L.P. originally planned to include the P hotel complex, a single restaurant and some retail space in the first phase of the Patton Towne Center development, at Colonnade Boulevard and Waddle Road. Township supervisors approved that concept in July 2008.

But with the P complex plan now suspended, and no pieces of the development yet completed, Waddle Real Estate has reworked its first-phase plans, municipal documents show. Township supervisors this spring approved those new drawings, which call for the construction of two restaurant buildings in the initial development phase.

One would encompass 9,000 square feet; the other, 10,101 square feet. One of them would be a tavern-style establishment; the other, a more family-style place, according to township documents.

It’s not yet clear exactly which eateries may occupy the space, though StateCollege.com has confirmed that Cracker Barrel, the Tennessee-based restaurant chain, has expressed interest in the region.

It’s also unclear when the restaurants may be completed. Under township rules, Waddle Real Estate has five years to launch construction before its relevant approvals expire.

A leader in Waddle Real Estate, Ben Heim, did not immediately respond to inquiries from StateCollege.com this week. The two restaurant buildings are the only structures included in the development’s new first-phase plan.

Preliminary site work has already begun at the property, said Mark Saville, vice president at Sweetland Engineering. The State College-based firm is handling technical plans for the project, situated on a former Lowe’s site.

The longer-term vision for Patton Towne Center still includes six buildings overall on the 16.2-acre tract, township files show. Eventually, the complex would include a bank; 37,000 square feet of retail space; a hotel, spa, salon; and four restaurants in total, according to planning documents filed by Waddle Real Estate.

Those later-phase plans have yet to be submitted for township review and approval.

The developer announced in September that it would suspend the hotel portion of Patton Towne Center ‘pending stabilization of the economy.’ It has not announced when the second and later construction phases, including the hotel, may materialize.