UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Board of Trustees Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning today (Sept. 19) recommended for approval the addition of 5.5 acres to the existing sales agreement of two adjacent parcels of undeveloped land along Whitehall Road near the University Park campus to Springton Point LP, a Pennsylvania limited partnership that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toll Bros. Inc. The sale price of $13.5 million remains the same.
The plan still requires approval from the full Board at Friday's meeting.
Since the Board of Trustees' original approval in May 2012, Toll Bros. reviewed various site development plans with Ferguson Township, each aimed at creating facilities that fully utilize the site’s potential. Despite much work having been completed to ensure utilities and other municipal services are available to the site, Toll Bros. indicated that the current acreage could not be developed to justify the $13,500,000 purchase price, unless additional acreage was provided to accommodate density requirements and storm water management facilities.
Toll Bros. offered to maintain the purchase price, if the University added an adjoining 5.5 acres to the 40.39 acres, shown in the Agreement of Sale, for a total of 45.89 acres. The Board committee voted to recommend acceptance of their offer and the authorize the revised sale. The 5.5 acres is zoned agricultural and the University has no strategic need for the property. The full board will vote on Friday (Sept. 20).
The parcels, which were zoned for multi-family residential use in Ferguson Township, were listed for sale by the University in August 2011. The portions of land proposed for sale, formerly held by the Mellon Family Trust and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, were acquired by the University in July 1999 as part of a 1,100-acre purchase. The land has since been sold in portions to various agencies as follows:
-- In 2011, the University’s Board of Trustees sold a 0.254-acre plot of undeveloped land to the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The parcel was adjacent to the church.
-- Also in 2011, the University sold a 25-acre parcel of undeveloped property to Ferguson Township and the Centre Region Council of Governments for the purposes of developing a regional community park.
-- In 2008, the University sold a 59-acre parcel of the Mellon Property to the State College Borough Water Authority for purposes of conservation, and a 75-acre parcel to Ferguson Township and the Centre Region Council of Governments for the purposes of developing a regional community park.
-- In 2007 the University sold 165.3 acres of undeveloped land in Potter Township, also part of the former Mellon Properties, to Centre Hall Borough and Gregg and Potter townships for public purposes.