STATE COLLEGE — Downtown State College welcomed two new businesses to the community this week with the opening of Target and the expected opening of H&M at the new Fraser Centre.
The 28,000-square-foot Target store is considered a “flexible-format” store, which is smaller than its big box counterpart. H&M is a Swedish clothing company and will occupy about 19,000 square feet.
Target officially cut the red ribbon on the evening of Oct. 4 where, from 5 to 9 p.m., the company held a “Very Important Guests Night,” a special opening for employees’ friends and family, as well as neighboring businesses and community leaders. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 9.
H&M hopes to open at noon Thursday, Oct. 6; however, according to Gary Brandeis of Real Estate Capital Management, one of the owners and developers, permits to open the store were not yet in place the morning of Oct. 5.
“The code guys gave us a list of minor things we need to do before we get the permit, and we’re going to handle them here this morning,” Brandeis said. “We’re confident we’re going to have that permit in hand here sometime today and the opening will go off without a hitch.”
“The Fraser Centre opening is an important addition to downtown State College,” State College Borough manager Tom Fountaine said. “Target and H&M, along with the single-family residences, hotel and restaurant, bring new investment to the community.
“The opening of Target and H&M represent confidence in Downtown State College and will result in more traffic to support all of the downtown economy,” he continued. “With nearly 50,000 square feet of new retail opening this week, residents of State College will have even more reasons to come downtown and support local business.”
Target will open its second State College store at Fraser Street and Beaver Avenue and is expected to add about 70 jobs. The flexible-format store, according to www.target.com, is better fitted to urban sites and developing neighborhoods, and will carry items more fitted to the “college lifestyle.”
“Target has been focused on urban and college campus growth by adding flexible-format stores in priority markets across the country,” said Target representative Kristy Welker. “Because this format allows us to customize the stores, the new State College store will provide an assortment of products that are tailored to meet the needs of Penn State students and local residents.
“We are very excited to open our new store in the Fraser Centre and to officially join the Nittany Lions family.”
H&M is one of the world’s largest fashion retailers and is known for its fashion-forward apparel at reasonable prices, and, according to U.S. president of H&M Daniel Kulle, the company prides itself on its support of local economies by adding jobs with each new location. He said with the opening of the Fraser Street location, H&M will add approximately 30 employees to the workforce.
“We are thrilled to be opening a new location in Pennsylvania,” said Kulle. “The state has been very welcoming to us and we are excited to create more employment opportunities with our expansion there.”
The other tenants at Fraser Centre include the 158-room Hyatt Place Hotel, a Federal Taphouse second-floor bar and restaurant and 26 residential condominium units for the ninth through 12th floors.
“Once we get the permit for H&M and get them opened up we can start concentrating on the other parts of the project,” said Brandeis. “The hotel and Taphouse will be completed in December and the condos will be finished up in the spring.”
