Plans for a new mixed-use high-rise in downtown State College moved forward on Monday.
At its final meeting of 2022, the State College Borough Council voted unanimously to approve a conditional use permit for a proposed 12-story commercial and residential building slated for the corner of East College Avenue and Sowers Street. While the permit does not serve as a finalized land development plan, it does serve as a key step to bring the high-rise — perhaps the last of its kind — to downtown State College.
Following a public hearing on Nov. 21, the borough recommended the proposed high-rise’s developer, Landmark Properties, modify its land development plan to include bicycle racks that would be available to the general public at street level to encourage their use downtown. A traffic study would need to be completed and reviewed before land development plans for the mixed-use building, known as The Mark, can be finalized, too.
Additionally, the proposed high-rise is not permitted to install balconies or operable windows in its residential units.
Another component of the conditional use permit requires Landmark Properties to install a “minimal vanilla shell finish” to its proposed street-level commercial space. Doing so would add basic finishings to the space and cut down on outfitting costs for incoming tenants. According to the borough, a vanilla shell finish would also “avoid the look of completely unfinished space” that a “gray shell” finish provides with only concrete walls, conduits and a sewer connection. At a meeting in October, borough planning director Ed LeClear estimated it would cost at least $29.4 million for basic fit-out of all the existing gray shell commercial space in new high-rises downtown.
During a Dec. 12 work session, council members said changes to the incoming high-rise’s commercial space should help the borough fill vacant commercial spaces downtown. While a Starbucks is slated to open under the Pugh Centre complex, many other mixed-use apartment buildings — including the recently opened The Standard — lack commercial tenants on their ground floors.
“I would just like to thank the solicitor for capturing the comments and concerns from our last meeting,” council member Deanna Behring said on Dec. 12. “This is not a comment on this particular set of criteria, but I just want to put a marker down that this council continues to work on filling empty commercial space for this building and previous buildings as we go forward.”
Construction of the proposed high-rise would involve the demolition of the Keystone Building at 444 E. College Ave., McDonald’s at 442 E. College Ave. and the Armenara Office Building at 111 Sowers St., according to plans submitted by developer Landmark Properties in August. McDonald’s will be incorporated into the new building on the ground floor. It was not clear if any businesses from the other buildings would also be included in The Mark.
Preliminary plans submitted to the borough in August called for nearly 20,000 square feet of commercial space on the complex’s first and second floors. The ground floor plan would accommodate two commercial spaces and a leasing office, while the second floor would host a nearly 11,000-square-foot commercial space office, plus an approximately 10,500-square-foot “resident amenity” area and a 3,600-square-foot courtyard.
Nearly 170 apartment units will occupy the third through 12th floors, including studio setups to five-bedroom apartments. Plans called for 473 total beds, a rooftop pool and parking spaces that would accommodate nearly 300 vehicles with the help of a three-level underground parking facility.
Landmark Properties already owns five other student apartment complexes in the area: The Station, The Retreat, The Legacy, The Standard and The Metropolitan.
While its plans are not finalized, The Mark could very well be the last 12-story high-rise to join State College’s skyline for the foreseeable future. In October, the borough adopted a zoning ordinance that hopes to pause the development of new student apartment high-rises downtown.
With a 5-2 vote, council repealed a 2013 zoning amendment that took once granted developer incentives that led to several high-rise housing complexes with empty commercial spaces. The move is viewed as an interim measure that will give the borough time to find the right “recipe” for future development in a desirable way — ideally one that promotes affordable housing downtown.
