STATE COLLEGE — A new hospital is set to open in Centre County this summer. After two years of planning and construction, Penn Highlands State College, located at 239 Colonnade Blvd., is tentatively slated to open to the public on Monday, June 17. The hospital is situated next to Kohl’s and Sheetz in Patton Township.
The community is invited to an open house from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, to tour the new hospital. The event will feature refreshments, local mascots, activities and more.
“We are excited to show the community our new state-of-the-art hospital and medical office building that will provide innovative, patient-centric and compassionate care,” said Rhonda Halstead, regional market president for the central region for Penn Highlands Healthcare. “We constructed Penn Highlands State College around the specific needs of the Centre County region. From the minute they walk through the door, patients and visitors will notice that the hospital and medical office building were designed for their comfort and privacy.”
The $90 million, 112,000-square-foot facility plans to offer a variety of inpatient and outpatient services. The hospital features an emergency department with 10 treatment rooms, including a trauma room; three surgical suites; an endoscopy procedure room; 18 private inpatient rooms; and a medical imaging department.
Adjacent to the hospital is the Medical Office Building, which will focus primarily on outpatient services for the whole family. It will house the Penn Highlands Hahne Cancer Center, gynecological services, women’s medical imaging, pulmonology services, cardiology services, a QCare walk-in clinic, a retail pharmacy with a drive-through window and walk-in laboratory services.
While emergency room services will be available 24/7, the QCare Walk-In clinic will initially operate from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. There are plans to extend the hours to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
The new hospital will be the ninth hospital Penn Highlands Healthcare has opened since it was established in 2011, but this is the first hospital to be built from scratch since the organization’s founding. Other hospitals in the system, such as Penn Highlands DuBois and Penn Highlands Tyrone, joined through mergers.
“This is the first hospital that we’ve built from the ground up, that met our specifications,” Halstead noted. “We’ll be able to design the workflows, the culture, everything to meet the needs of Centre County.”
According to Penn Highlands State College, the new hospital will employ 113 staff members, but that number is expected to grow to 240 employees.
Another unique feature of the new Penn Highlands State College hospital is a Safe Haven Baby Box, the second of its kind in Pennsylvania. Under the state’s Safe Haven law, parents can surrender a newborn up to 28 days old at any hospital, police station or emergency services provider, as long as the infant is unharmed and not a victim of any crime. Safe Haven Baby Boxes aim to prevent the illegal abandonment of newborns by providing a safe, anonymous surrender option and taking face-to-face interaction out of the surrender while raising awareness around Safe Haven laws.
Penn Highlands State College is not the only new healthcare facility coming to Centre County. In Patton Township, Mount Nittany Health is expected to open a $90 million, four-story health center. Additionally, Mount Nittany Health recently opened its first walk-in clinic, and a 10-story patient tower addition to the medical center is set to be completed by 2026.
Geisinger is also expanding its presence in Centre County with two projects: a $12 million expansion of its Healthplex State College and a $15.5 million primary care and urgent care facility near Bellefonte.
The potential for another new fast-food restaurant is indicative of the ongoing commercial boom along the Benner Pike corridor.
Across Paradise Road, in the Paradise Shopping Center, McDonald’s will join Giant supermarket, which opened in December 2022. Real estate company ExchangeRight recently acquired the net-leased Giant property from original developer Land of Paradise LLC for $10.1 million, though the supermarket will not be affected by the change in property ownership.
The shopping center has at least one more open pad for a retail or restaurant use.
Further north on Benner Pike, convenience store chain Wawa has submitted plans for one of its first Centre County locations near the Eagle Point intersection, directly across from rival Sheetz. A Rutter’s convenience store and Dunkin’ Donuts also opened along Benner Pike in the last five years.
Two hotel developments are also expected to begin construction soon, Royer said.
A 98-room Tru by Hilton hotel, along with a 12,000-square-foot retail building, is planned for Benner Pike across from Bellefonte Lanes.
Along Amberleigh Lane near Benner Pike, a four-story, 107-room hotel, first introduced in 2022, is also poised to begin construction soon. While the name of the hotel had not been previously announced, project bidding information published online last fall identifies it as a dual brand Avid Hotel and Candlewood Suites.
Additionally, plans for a fulfillment center warehouse at Benner Commerce Park in the Benner Pike corridor remain active.
