Developer withdraws plans for massive Benner fulfillment center warehouse for the second time
A developer has requested to withdraw plans for a one million-square-foot warehouse in Benner Township for the second time in almost two years.
The Centre County Planning Commission received a letter on Feb. 9 from Brian Dunn of Suncap Development formally requesting that the Bellefonte Warehouse Land Development Plan be withdrawn, according to Chris Schnure, Centre County’s subdivision and land development planner.
The letter the commission was received was brief with no additional details about the reason, Schnure told the CDT Tuesday.
“When we got the letter on the 9th it only had two sentences to it — it was really short,” he said. “There weren’t any details about what the warehouse was for or why, it was just a formal request to withdraw.”
The request to withdraw the fulfillment center plan was on the Centre County Planning Commission’s agenda Tuesday evening. During the meeting, Schnure said that the developer was planning to come back with an updated site plan, although it is not known when that will happen.
Dunn could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Since first being proposed almost two years ago, the fulfillment center has been surrounded by mystery and controversy. Plans for the 1,080,289-square-foot fulfillment center at the end of Penntech Drive in the Benner Commerce Park were submitted in April 2022, withdrawn that same month, and a nearly identical plan was resubmitted about four months later.
The developer of the project never shared publicly who the end user of the warehouse would be, citing nondisclosure agreements. The secrecy caused some concern from officials and community members, with Centre County Commissioner Steve Dershem saying in April 2022 that residents were frustrated with the lack of public knowledge about the project.
“We’re all interested in who that end user is as well,” Schnure said at the time. “But ultimately, it’s not necessarily the name on the side of the building that we care about as much as, do they meet the regulations that are in effect?”
It was estimated that the new business would bring nearly 700 jobs to Centre County and be one of the largest private employers in the county.
The Wawa gas station, located directly across from Sheetz, the McDonald’s, located beside the new Giant and the Belle Rose Town Homes Land Development Project are all projects that are still ongoing on Benner Pike.
