PHILIPSBURG — The parking lot of the We Are Inn on Route 322 on the edge of Philipsburg has been fairly full in recent weeks, but not with guests … at least not yet.
“I’m just waiting for cable,” said Pat Romano, a Rush Township supervisor and new owner of the inn. “My timeframe is pretty much limited to when Comcast gets in here. And we’re (a few) weeks into what they said could be ‘up to 60 days.’ They’re trying to expedite it.”
“I sent 15 guys in there,” Romano said. “It was in such a mess. The floors were concrete. We put in all new flooring. Just doing little patches and repairs, we went through like 25 buckets of spackle. That’s a lot when you’re not hanging dry wall. There were a lot of repairs to be made to the plumbing. Because it sat for so many years, there was dust, and getting in and cleaning that was a whole different challenge. Phase one was just to get everything cleaned up, fixed up and going, and then in the spring, we’re going to put new windows in, probably new doors. We’re going to re-tile all the bathrooms, change up the colors.”
The former Mallard Motel closed some 40 years ago and has since seen various businesses come and go, though not lately.
“It’s been nothing for probably 15 years,” Romano said. “It’s pretty crazy, because with my Penn State connections and going to the games and all, people are always saying how they need places to stay, and everything’s always booked with so many people coming to town. And I drive by this place every day going back and forth to State College, and it was just sitting, sitting, sitting.”
One of the first tasks Romano’s crew completed was re-painting the blaze orange accenting that recently appeared on the hotel’s exterior. Romano had the walls painted, furnished the rooms and forsaking the stark white color scheme typical of many hotels (and hospitals), has appointed the homey rooms with inviting, dark décor.
“What I’m going for is ‘cozy inn,’” Romano said.
The “We Are” name, of course, is a play on Penn State’s famous catchphrase. The Nittany Lion theme continues throughout the inn, and Romano is counting on the university’s proximity for success.
“A lot of people, I’ve found out, don’t want to stay in State College,” Romano said. “They want something that’s a little bit out of the way, and the thing is, if you make a left out of this parking lot, and you’re going to a football game or the Bryce Jordan Center, the first stop light you hit is at the hospital, right at the stadium. There are no stop signs — anything to stop you from here to there.”
It isn’t just Penn State graduations, sporting events, the State College annual arts festival and so forth that Romano thinks will draw guests to the We Are Inn. Philipsburg and the local area have their own lodging needs, he says.
“There are people calling me already who want to stay for two weeks during (Philipsburg’s) Heritage Days, because they want to be back with family,” Romano said. “There are people who come into town, and they want to visit with family at Windy Hill Village, but they have to stay over in Clearfield. They say, ‘It might not seem like much, but we’re losing a halfan-hour each way each day when we’re there to see people.’ That’s time they can save by just being right here.”
While he’s putting the finishing touches on the lodging aspect of the business, Romano is making bigger plans. He wants to expand in the coming year to include a beer garden/patio space, restaurant, drive-thru beer and catering facilities. Romano estimates he could “easily” employ 10-15 people when all the aspects of the business are up and running.
He said he didn’t initially intend to open a bar and restaurant, but because his business includes lodging, he has access to a cheaper rate for a liquor license, which caused him to reconsider. Plus, he loves cooking.
“That should be fun, because I have a lot of crazy, crazy recipes from back in Philly growing up with my grandmothers and my mom cooking Italian food,” Romano said. “It’s going to be all my menu. I cook everything with a ton of garlic. The difference between gravies and sauce will be very evident. It will almost be like if you went to eat at an old-fashioned Italian wedding.”
Romano worked in bars and restaurants in Philadelphia, where he’s from, before moving to Philipsburg 15 years ago. His father, uncles and friends had a hunting camp in Glass City.
“They started hunting there in 1957, bought the place in 1960, so my whole life, I came up here in the summers, for vacations for a few weeks, and then we’d come up fishing, we’d come hunting,” Romano said. “So I had friends and everything in the area and have pretty much always wanted to live up here. The city is too busy — I can’t see myself going back ever.”
Romano says he wants the We Are Inn to sponsor side-by-side rides on the shared-use trails that run right by his inn, fishing derbies across the road at Cold Stream Dam and golfing tournaments at the nearby Elks Country Club.
He also wants the We Are Inn to be a “place to convene” for special occasions, such as the recent inaugural Centre Film Fest.
“I think somebody coming in and buying this and just having a hotel would be one thing, but having all these different facets to it that I’m planning is a whole different thing,” Romano said. “It’s going to help the area.”
