State College Planning Commission on Wednesday reviewed plans and expressed concerns about potential traffic impacts resulting from the site design for a new hotel and apartment building proposed for a portion of the former Autoport property on South Atherton Street.
South Atherton Real Estate 1 and Concord Hospitality submitted preliminary plans in January for an 80,000-square foot, four-story building on the west side of the property at 1401 S. Atherton St. It will have a 122-room Home2 Suites by Hilton and eight apartment units, with one designated for inclusionary housing to meet borough ordinance.
John Sepp, of PennTerra Engineering, said the project would involve consolidating five parcels on the Autoport property into three. The hotel and apartments would be constructed on a 2.6 acre lot, with two vacant office buildings — one behind and one directly east of the adjacent Talbot’s — and one of the Autoport motel buildings to be demolished. An existing house on the lot, toward the rear of the property, would remain.
Most of the property is zoned planned commercial (CP2). The house is R-2, but would not be used for parking or building and a small portion of the property would be used for a traffic loop around the hotel.
The Autoport restaurant and lounge and original motel buildings are not part of the project and will not be demolished. They would be on a 4.178 acre lot after consolidation.
Nate Loeffelholz, of Base4 Architects, said Home2 is ‘one of the fastest growing Hilton products right now’ and that his firm currently has about 15 in design around the country. It is not an extended-stay hotel, but what Loeffelholz called ‘an in-between’ with typical stays of two to three nights. All rooms are suites and accommodate larger groups than a standard hotel room.
Site plans call for 134 parking stalls, mostly to the rear of the property. The first level of the hotel will have a lobby, fitness center, meeting rooms and outdoor patio.
The apartments units will be fully furnished and marketed to young professionals. While part of the same building the hotel and apartments will be separately managed and there will be no access between the two.
The main hotel entrance will be accessed via South Atherton Street directly across from Norma Street. Loops will take traffic around the front entrance to the rear parking.
The proximity of the hotel entrance at the front of the building to South Atherton Street, as well as the narrowness of the loop, led some planning commission members to express concerns about traffic management. If several vehicles stop for guests to unload and register in the lobby before parking at the rear of the building, traffic will back up on to the street, especially during busy times like Penn State football weekends.
‘There’s not enough room for them to queue without sitting on Atherton blocking the driveway,’ if two or three cars are stopped, member Scott Dutt said.
Dutt noted that the Dunkin Donuts on South Atherton Street experiences that problem when several cars are lined up at the drive-thru. He also asked why the main entrance couldn’t be at the rear of the building where the parking is.
Loeffelholz said Hilton would not permit having the main entrance at the back of the building, since its designed to be inviting to passersby. While he said the canopied area in front of the lobby is designed for two to three cars, the standard for a hotel of this size, he acknowledged ‘it’s tight.’
Base4 is working with PennTerra on the engineering, but Loeffelholz said because of the dimensions of the site, ‘we feel like this about the best option we can come up with.’ He added that a traffic study also is being conducted.
Planning commission members suggested the developers could rethink how the lots are being consolidated to add some more space to the hotel property for a short-term parking area near the entrance.
‘If you were to square up the lot lines a little bit you could certainly provide another row of parking there for that drop off space and eliminate the hazard of traffic backing up on to Atherton Street, particularly during the peak periods when you expect to attract the highest number of guests,’ member Jon Eich said, noting that the proposed lot to the east after consolidation is more than 4 acres.
The existing access driveway between Talbot’s and the Autoport property also will be maintained.
Two residents also expressed other concerns about the development. Lee Ann Candor, a Bradley Avenue resident, said that a line of evergreens currently separates the backyards of houses on her street from the Autoport property. She suggested that if they are removed another buffer be put in place so residents are not faced with a parking lot, and at night a stream of headlights.
Scott Lang, a Homan Avenue resident, said the height of the building and placement of a Dumpster at the rear of the property also are issues for residents.
CP2 zoning permits three stories and a maximum height of 35 feet. However, an incentive for inclusionary housing on-site allows for an extra story, and the planned four-story building is 48-feet tall.
In response to a question from Eich, Loeffelholz said the hotel ‘will be built efficiently’ but not LEED-certified. He said a green roof or capabilities for future solar panels were possibilities.
Eich asked to see Home2’s sustainability statement prior to the next review.
Chair Zoe Boniface said that while another preliminary review is not required before final plans are submitted for review, she would like to explore further discussion and encouraged neighboring residents with concerns to schedule a meeting with borough planning staff.
‘Given the amount of community concern we could hope to go slow on this,’ she said.
‘This is a good project to use that property in a meaningful way… we just want it to be functional within our community,’ member Ron Madrid added.
Borough planner Isabel Storey said that at an earlier meeting, the Design Review Board was, overall, impressed with the building’s design, finding it ‘less blocky’ than other Home2 properties and appreciating the color scheme, which uses blue and gray and a stone base. She said the board suggested adding more glass to the front of the building, which Loeffelholz said his firm will be working to incorporate.
Planning commission’s next meeting is at 7 p.m. on March 19 in council chambers of the State College Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St.
Artist’s rendering of the Home2 Suites and eight-unit apartment building proposed for 1401 S. Atherton St. Image by Base4 Architects via State College Borough
