Former Penn State fraternity turned into new space for local nonprofit
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) — A local crisis management organization, Centre Helps, is officially operational in its new home of a former fraternity building in State College.
Alpha Chi Sigma at 406 S. Pugh St. was abandoned for several years before State College's Redevelopment Authority partnered with Centre Helps to give them the building. The roughly $1.5 million in renovations started in late 2024 and lasted through May 2025. Director of Centre Helps Denise McCann says there is still more work to be done, but the building is finished enough for them to move in.
'It's so much bigger and brighter and it's just more conducive to the kind of work we're doing,' McCann said. 'That's what we wanted to able to provide our staff with.'
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The building has three floors: two are for Centre Helps, and according to McCann, apartments are planned to eventually be built on the third floor. The first floor houses a new conference room for meetings, but McCann plans to have the space be used for other activities as well.
'Our hope is also to offer this space to the community if they need a space,' McCann said.
Along with the conference room, the first floor also houses offices and a room for volunteers to relax before or after a shift. McCann wants the new building to be inviting for her employees or anyone who walks through the door, with a space carved out specifically for talking with clients who may be in crisis.
The second floor is where volunteers take 988 suicide prevention calls. A larger building means more office space for the volunteers.
'The old space only allowed two desks and two phones when, typically, we might have three or four people on shift,' McCann said. 'They each have their own workspace now.'
Centre Helps is also an emergency food bank, and the larger space allows them to hold more food in a convenient area on the second floor. McCann says the new building is over twice as large as the old one, and she is thankful for the borough footing most of the bill.
'They [State College borough] were just looking for someone to occupy it that filled the mission that under which they bought it,' McCann said.
McCann says she hopes to expand programs within Centre Helps thanks to the new building, but nothing is set in stone yet. To learn more about the nonprofit, visit its website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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