The Patton Township Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved a final land development plan for a new hotel near State College Regional Airport.
The 96-room hotel will be located on Fox Hill Road, just west of the Bernel Road intersection and about 1.5 miles from the airport, according to the plans submitted by property owner/developer Decibel Partners LP.
While Mark Toretti of project engineer PennTerra confirmed the property will be a long-term-stay hotel, the name or operator have not been publicly disclosed.
The hotel is phase 2C of the 60.68-acre Nittany Valley Sports Centre Master Plan approved by the township in 2016. Previous development in the master plan area, which is in the township’s Planned Airport District, included the Centre and the Kingston Village townhomes.
Toretti noted that a hotel was located in about the same spot on the master plan.
“The master plan, when that was created, was kind of a pretty picture of what we think’s going to occur, what may occur,” Toretti said. “And for a good part of it it has transformed into close to what the master plan, almost like a concept/sketch plan, was.”
Plans show 112 parking spaces, with most at the back of the building and ADA spaces at the front, as well as indoor and outdoor bicycle parking. A drop-off area will be located at the front of the hotel.
Access to the hotel will be from an existing right-in, right-out on Fox Hill Drive and a full movement intersection on Bernel Road. An internal private road and access drive will be constructed to reach the hotel and service future development in the planned area. Sewer service will be extended and stormwater management will be designed to serve future buildings as well.
“This will make the future phases a lot easier with having that infrastructure in,” Toretti said. “It’s just a big chunk, the first part of this phase 2 area.”
In addition to a hotel, phase 2 of the Nittany Valley Sports Centre Master Plan shows pads for restaurant, office and warehouse uses, but nothing has been planned for those sites to date, Toretti said at a Planning Commission meeting earlier this month.
Supervisor Betsy Whitman said the right-in, right-out access on Fox Hill “could be problematic,” because drivers might not heed signs prohibiting left turns.
The right-in, right-out and the full access intersection were installed by PennDOT when the intersection of Bernel and Fox Hill roads was reconfigured in 2021, Toretti said. Right now, the hotel development doesn’t have another option and will need “to have some good signage,” he added.
Development of a separate, neighboring property may provide a solution.
Aptitude Development submitted a sketch plan in 2023 for a project at 147 Kradel Lane, off of Fox Hill Road, for two industrial buildings, multi-family housing consisting of detached and townhome units and a clubhouse.
While the hotel will not warrant a traffic signal, a traffic study is in progress for the development of the 127-acred Kradel tract and may find a signal is needed.
The developers are amenable to discussing collaboration on a central traffic signal that would provide full-movement access to both properties, Toretti and Township Manager Amy Farkas said.
“[The Kradel developer is] looking at possibly needing a traffic signal or some kind of improvement like that,” Farkas said. “So if these were connected that would sort of centralize some of that traffic improvement and make it easier to access both properties.”
The hotel project will also include sidewalk along Fox Hill Road to Bernel Road, with a connector to the building. Along Bernel Road the sidewalk will tie into sidewalk proposed for Kingston Village. Sidewalk will also be installed along the access drive.
