After 20 years in State College, Mad Mex will close its 240 S. Pugh St. location on Nov. 28, an executive of the restaurant’s parent company confirmed on Thursday.
Bill Fuller, president of Big Burrito Group, said the bar and restaurant’s lease has been suspended pending the sale of its home in the Days Inn Penn State property.
As first reported by StateCollege.com in August, Chicago-based developer Core Spaces is working to purchase the Days Inn property and submitted a preliminary land development plan to State College borough to raze the existing building and construct a new, six-story student apartment complex.
“We love State College. We’d stay there forever and we’re looking at other locations,” Fuller said.
“If the sale does not go through, we will return to the spot and we love that spot.”
The Days Inn building, which also includes Brewsky’s Bottle Shop, is owned by Centre Hotel Associates and the hotel is operated by State College-based Hospitality Asset Management Company (HAMCO).
Edward Tubbs, HAMCO chief operating officer, said the sale has not yet been finalized. The Days Inn and Brewsky’s, which is operated by the hotel, are expected to remain open until the end of February, though that date could change depending on the timing of the sale.
Big Burrito Group will retain Mad Mex Happy Valley’s management team for a period of time and will offer other employees jobs at its other restaurant locations — though its nearest ones are in Pittsburgh and Erie.
Core Spaces has been expanding its State College presence since 2019. That year it acquired five downtown apartment buildings for $102 million and in early 2021 it purchased Park Hill apartments for $23 million, with plans to renovate each. In September, Core Spaces will begin demolition work for a new 12-story residential and commercial building at the corner of East College Avenue and Hetzel Street.
The 65-foot tall building proposed for the Days Inn site would have 172 units of varying sizes, mostly geared toward Penn State students. Parking would include 264 spaces, with 208 enclosed underground and 56 at surface level.
The sixth floor plan includes a pool, hot tub and terrace. Public and private terrace space is included throughout the first floor plan, which also has a lobby, leasing office and mechanical spaces.
A preliminary land development plan reviewed by State College Planning Commission and borough staff in September has not yet been approved. Gregory Garthe, State College senior planner, said the borough is still waiting on the developer’s response to preliminary plan review comments.
Property sales to developers are commonly contingent on approval of development plans and completion of due diligence.
Tubbs told StateCollege.com in August that Centre Hotel Associates had not been looking to sell the property. The hotel, which in 2016 and 2017 was named Wyndham Hotel Group’s Days Inn Brand Hotel of the Year, “has always performed very well,” Tubbs said, and had weathered the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pugh Street hotel has been affiliated with Days Inn since 1989 after decades of operating as a Sheraton.
“The hotel was not for sale,” Tubbs said. “Core Spaces approached us and asked us if we would entertain a purchase, which we said we would entertain a conversation for them to purchase the property.”
Core Spaces, “loves the State College area generally,” Joe Gatto, managing director of acquisitions for the company, said in August,
“We’re grateful to be part of the community and feel lucky to have the chance to expand our relationships in it,” he said. “We’re excited for the chance to work on this project in particular due to its incredible location. We think the site’s proximity to heart of downtown and topography will allow us to create something truly special that the whole borough can be proud of.”
