A new hotel and other commercial development could be coming to Shiloh Road in College Township.
A sketch plan presented to the township’s planning commission on Tuesday night proposes subdividing three parcels totaling 19 acres northwest of the intersection of Shiloh and Trout roads near Maxwell Truck and Equipment into seven commercial lots ranging from 1 acre to 5.4 acres. One of the lots, a 3-acre tract, will be developed for a 115-room hotel, said Mark Toretti of PennTerra engineering, who presented the plan on behalf of property owner Ed Maxwell.
Toretti and Maxwell did not identify the hotel company that plans to build on the lot. Sketch plans are optional and are designed to garner township feedback before submitting a land development plan or subdivision request.
Trout Road would be extended across Shiloh Road, making East Trout Road, which is currently a private drive for access to Maxwell Truck and Equipment and a home, a public road providing access to the subdivided commercial lots. A new shared access drive off of East Trout Road would provide vehicle entry to the rear of the three lots fronting Shiloh Road and to the the hotel’s porte-cochère. Secondary access to the hotel, which will have 140 parking spaces, will be from East Trout Road, which will be extended to reach each of the proposed commercial lots.
The road will continue to the northern property line for a possible connection to the neighboring Clair farm, which is also zoned commercial and may be developed in the future.
All access to the properties would be from East Trout Road and the shared drive, with no access directly from Shiloh Road.
The development would create a four-way intersection at Trout and Shiloh roads, likely requiring a traffic signal. Toretti and Maxwell said they are waiting on PennDOT to provide the scope for a traffic study, which would need to be included with a land development plan.
Aside from the hotel parcel, “there’s been some interest,” in the other proposed lots, but nothing firm, Maxwell said.
“The biggest question we’re asked is timing, and the timing is not so much on a local level,” Maxwell said. “It’s the traffic light issue we’re having on Shiloh Road. PennDOT, there’s a lot of discussion. It’s going to be pretty complicated to figure out what we’re going to be doing with the traffic light, which will probably be required because of this, and then that leads into the other traffic lights all the way up to Sheetz.”
Sidewalks would be provided along the Shiloh Road frontage of the properties, along both sides of East Trout Road and on the shared access road. Toretti said he will look at a suggestion from the Centre Region Planning Agency to also provide path connections to the nearby C3 Sports or UEC Theatre.
Other elements of the sketch plan include stormwater management for the sidewalks and roads, along with individual stormwater basins for each subdivided lot. The parcels are in the wellhead protection zone, meaning they can only have 60% impervious coverage instead of the typical 70% for commercial development and cannot have stormwater infiltrate the ground.
A home and horse barn are located on one of the lots. Maxwell said he plans to retain those “as long as we can,” but expects they eventually will be removed.
“There’s a lot of grading that has to be done so we’re not wanting to make them on a little island,” he said.
Planning commission member Ed Darrah said he felt the sketch plan was “well thought out and straightforward.”
Toretti said he expects a formal land development plan for the hotel and subdivision to be submitted in November or December.
Work on roadway infrastructure for the development is expected to begin in June, Maxwell added.
“I see that encouraging growth on the other lots,” planning commission Chair Ray Forziat said. “Once that’s in place there’s going to be other people going ‘oh we’ve got access.’”
The Shiloh Road development joins several other proposed hotels in various stages of planning in the area: two on Benner Pike near Bellefonte, one in downtown Bellefonte as part of the long-awaited waterfront project and one in downtown State College as part of the Town Centre project, as well as the planned reopening of the Nittany Lion Inn following renovations.
