A four-story hotel is in the works for a currently vacant plot of land along Benner Pike in Benner Township.
Property owner SAI 21 LLC has submitted a preliminary/final land development plan for the 107-room hotel to be located on a portion of a 4.25-acre tract along Amberleigh Lane and Benner Pike, according to Centre County and township officials.
The developer has not yet disclosed the name of the hotel, township secretary Sharon Royer said.
The parcel between Klaban’s Home Furnishings and Penn State Federal Credit Union will be subdivided into two lots, Christopher Schnure, county subdivision and land development planner, said during a brief overview at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting.
The proposed hotel would be located on a 2.095-acre lot at the back of the property, with access from Amberleigh Lane. No plans have been submitted for the other, 2.152-acre lot fronting Benner Pike.
Stormwater management facilities would be located on the front lot, with an easement granted for flow from the hotel property to the basin.
Commissioners agreed to add to the consent agenda for next week’s meeting a memorandum of understanding among the developer, township and county for the developer to reimburse costs of engineering review fees. The project still will need to go through the land development plan approval process before it can move forward.
About five years ago, a different developer explored plans to build a 40,000-square-foot shopping center on the property. Though a sketch plan was presented, a land development plan never materialized.
The property was sold to SAI 21 LLC in October 2021 for $1 million.
A hotel would be the latest building in the growing commercial development along Benner Pike near the Interstate 99 Bellefonte interchange.
The Shoppes at Paradise, located at the intersection of Paradise Road and Benner Pike, is currently under construction. Its first phase will include a Giant Food Stores supermarket and gas station, with subsequent development to include a 4,000-square-foot fast food restaurant and a 7,200-square-foot retail building.
Nearby, Rutter’s opened in 2020 along Rishel Hill Road, joining a host of established commercial and retail businesses stretching from the Benner Commerce Park to just outside of Bellefonte Borough.
“It’s great to see all the private sector investment in the greater Bellefonte area,” Commissioner Mark Higgins said.
Because of an error on the land development plan, a previous version of this story stated the hotel would have 82 rooms. The correct number of rooms is 107, according to project engineer PennTerra.
