With Wawa and more planned for Benner Pike, what’s next for the thriving corridor?

In the past decade, with limited development opportunities left in State College, one area of Centre County has seen a boom in development, with no signs of slowing down.

In 2010, the Benner Pike got its first Sheetz. Next year, the area will be home to Centre County’s first Wawa, joining several new developments built or proposed along a stretch of Benner Pike, starting around where the Rutter’s is located. Others include Tru by Hilton next to G.M. McCrossin Inc, a new McDonald’s at the intersection of Paradise Road and the Benner Pike, and a four-story hotel at the corner of Benner Pike and Amberleigh Lane. Other areas in the township are also seeing more development, like a large residential development at the end of High Tech Road.

Greg Scott, president/CEO of Chamber Of Business & Industry of Centre County, said a company such as Wawa does “extensive research” on where to place their stores. The area is growing, Scott said, and while it’s closer to Bellefonte, it’s still about a 10-minute drive to State College.

“It becomes a really close connection with State College. I think that’s driving a lot of what’s happening in that area,” he said.

Between the uptick in development and traffic expected to come with it, questions about the impact on the road itself, the environment and the future of the area have been raised.

A ‘unique economic situation’

Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, represents the 82nd House District, which includes parts of the Benner Pike through College and Benner townships. To see why this area is developing as it is, he said it’s important to look at all of Centre County. It’s one of the few counties in central Pennsylvania that is growing, he said.

“We have a very unique economic situation here in Centre County that draws a lot of capital and draws a lot of people to this area,” he said.

There are issues that come with that, such as housing prices and land availability. Still, there are a lot of advantages, including extensive highway systems, major thoroughfares and the university.

Few areas in Centre County have development or redevelopment potential, Takac said, noting Benner Pike as one area, as well as nearby Dale Summit and Shiloh Road.

From the interstate interchanges to the edge of Bellefonte, there’s a natural business corridor with a mix of state land and farmland that has the potential to be developed, he said. With more than half of the land in Benner Township owned by state entities — and off of the tax rolls — there’s not a lot of area available for development without concerted effort.

“If it’s state land, … it has to be privatized, essentially, so that it can be developed. There’s precedent for doing that,” Takac said.

The Giant at 2699 Benner Pike is a recent example. When it opened in late 2022, Scott said it was the result of work CBICC did with the state to transfer land owned by SCI Rockview to turn it into an economic development opportunity.

Benner Township Supervisor Randy Moyer said the development along the Benner Pike has been good for the township.

“There’s a reason all these companies are coming here. ... And because it’s more tax base, it helps the township,” Moyer said. “I think it’s a good thing. We try to help it as much as we can.”

Matt Stuckey, president of Stuckey Automotive, purchased the Ford dealership that had been on the Benner Pike for many years, establishing Stuckey Ford Bellefonte in 2021. Since then, he’s been “pleasantly surprised” with the growth and traffic in the area.

“Even just since we’ve been operating up there a little over two years, there’s already been more stuff built — that Dunkin’ Donuts opened, the grocery store opened. And obviously we’re just kind of getting started. There’s a lot of new stuff coming here in the near term,” Stuckey said.

On land across from the Giant, Stuckey plans to build a new Stuckey Ford Bellefonte dealership facility, not far from their current location. He said they’re still in the early stages but they plan to build a much bigger shop to service fleet and commercial vehicles under the Ford name. The current location will have more space for its collision repair center.

With the new Giant also came opportunities for some fast food restaurants, like the new McDonald’s under construction. Scott expects to see other fast food restaurants move into that area, which is part of the Shoppes at Paradise. Plans for the shopping center, located at the intersection of Paradise Road and Benner Pike, also include a retail facility, restaurant and a coffee/restaurant shop in the future.

The Benner Commerce Park opened in 2010 and was historically a part of a large farm and rural industrial property. Today it’s home to businesses like Restek.

Transportation needs

With so much new and future development, it’s unclear how the road itself will be affected, but it’s something officials say is part of an ongoing discussion.

Benner Pike is a state road, and with any new development that proposes access onto a state route, the state Department of Transportation is involved.

With PennDOT’s Highway Occupancy Permit process, applicants have to identify impacts of the proposed access on the existing transportation system, as well as mitigation to offset the impacts through traffic impact studies or traffic impact assessments.

Jonathan Tate, PennDOT’s District 2 traffic signal supervisor, said when a traffic impact study is done, it doesn’t just encompass the current landscape.

“Sometimes when we do a traffic impact study, we just don’t look at today with those studies. We may look at five years down the road, or 10 years down the road in those studies as well, depending on the development,” Tate said. “For example … Rutter’s, I’m sure they looked at five years, they project the traffic volumes five years in the future, and look at those volumes as well.”

PennTerra Engineering, Inc., a civil engineering firm with land development experts in State College, has worked on a number of projects on the Benner Pike since the Cleveland Brothers site was approved in the late 2000s. They’ve worked on the Rutter’s and Giant, as well as a hotel at the Amberleigh Lane intersection, a hotel next to G.M. McCrossin Inc., and the future Wawa next to Dunkin’, Irene Miller Wetzel, director of business development at PennTerra Engineering, Inc., said.

The team at PennTerra works with their clients — private developers — to create a land development plan that meets not only their clients’ expectations, but also the requirements of the local municipality and other regulations. Sometimes aspects are added to the site plan to do so, like adding parking spaces, access roads and alternative transportation items, Wetzel said.

The Shoppes at Paradise is one example where a traffic study resulted in improvements on Benner Pike, John Sepp, president of PennTerra Engineering and the project manager for this project, said in a written statement. A traffic signal was added and the signal at the Rishel Road intersection was upgraded, given the expected traffic counts. A median, a deceleration lane, pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalks, and a bus stop were added to the Benner Pike.

Beyond any developer-based projects, Erik Brown, PennDOT’s District 2 traffic engineer, said there aren’t any concrete plans for construction projects with the Benner Pike but the discussions are ongoing.

“That’s something that may come up in the future as far as a larger scale infrastructure project on the Benner Pike,” he said.

Scott said CBICC, elected officials and PennDOT are working to think about the whole area “more holistically,” rather than project by project.

“There is some thought being put into ways to think about this as not just, ‘OK, we need to look at Wawa going in, what’s the traffic impact?’ But all of the various projects through there and, if you’ve been through there, it does get pretty congested at times during the day,” Scott said.

It’s something the township is concerned about, too. Benner Township officials have met with the secretary of transportation and local representatives to discuss Benner Pike, Moyer said, adding that PennDOT has control and final say of the road.

“It’s something that’s being addressed for future growth. How long it takes and what they come up with, that’s anybody’s guess at this point, but … it’s being worked on,” Moyer said.

Other considerations

It’s not just vehicle traffic that developers and others need to think about. Sidewalks, bike lanes and other pedestrian infrastructure, as well as utilities, are considered. Plus, there’s the environmental factor.

Jeff Sherry, a senior environmental designer and project manager at PennTerra Engineering, said the potential impacts projects like Graystone, Rutter’s and the Benner Commerce Park could have had on the local watershed were “key factors” throughout the process.

Environmental groups have been outspoken about impacts developments — like the since withdrawn plans for the 1 million square foot Benner warehouse — could have on the class A wild trout waters of Logan Branch and more.

“It’s a really unique stretch, where you’ve got three correctional institutions, you’ve got significant environmental value, and you’ve got prime farmland — which agriculture is the number one industry in Pennsylvania and there’s a great desire to preserve as much of our prime farmland as we can,” Takac said.

What’s next for the area?

When any new development is proposed, the public’s reaction can range from excited to disappointed. But Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins said developments are based on property rights, and the developer’s intuition and research.

“If you’re a property developer, you’re not going to want to put something up that’s then going to fail and then you have to try to find a tenant for possibly a specialized building,” Higgins said.

Moyer agreed, adding that it’s not the township’s role to decide which companies can and can’t come to the township.

“Whether it’s another gas station or whether it’s another hotel, I mean, we really have no say in that. … We just provide the governance as far as the township within our zoning and we work with the county as far as planning and stuff, but it’s really up to them,” Moyer said. “Like, the Wawa. We’ve got asked a ton, ‘Do we need it?’ That’s not our decision. They presented it and they meet all the requirements.”

The land development process can take years, hundreds of hours and numerous reviewers, Wetzel at PennTerra said.

“While everyone has their ideal tenant in mind, the ultimate tenant is a result of either who purchased the land to build the project or which company signed a contract with the developer,” she said.

Benner Township’s zoning map shows many of the parcels being developed were already zoned for commercial use.

“When you look back at what Benner Township allows in the commercial district, there’s a wide variety of commercial operations and entities that can fit themselves within those … parcels that are zoned commercial,” Director of Planning and Community Development Ray Stolinas said. And, each of those uses can generate a different amount of traffic.

In addition to commercial development, Elizabeth Lose, assistant director, said there’s a lot of residential development that’s already been in play or planned. She’ll be doing growth forecasting in the next few months for projections of dwelling units and populations.