Verizon Selling Property in State College
By Adam Smeltz, Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.
Aug. 2–STATE COLLEGE — Verizon Communications Inc., looking to control overhead costs, plans to sell one of its two buildings on South Allen Street, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Verizon owns property at 224 S. Allen St. and 250 S. Allen St. The former address, home to a single-level, 9,800-square-foot building, is the one for sale.
It sits on a 0.22-acre plot immediately south of an Omega Bank office.
“We’re operating in a competitive environment, so the company is looking for ways to reduce its real-estate costs, have fewer buildings and reduce expenses,” said Lee Gierczynski, a Pittsburgh-based spokesman for the telecommunications company.
He said the building houses primarily office space. He estimated fewer than a dozen people work there, mainly in engineering.
No jobs will be lost with the property sale, Gierczynski said. He said workers there will be transferred to other Verizon offices in the area.
The company declined to share any information on potential bidders for the site. It doesn’t want to compromise the negotiation process, Gierczynski said.
He said Verizon is still accepting offers.
The property, bounded by a demolition and construction site to the south, has belonged to the phone company since 1935, according to Centre County records. It was known then as Bell Telephone Co.
County records put the property’s fair market value now at $627,160. Local taxes on the property will probably amount to about $15,400 this year, according to a county estimate.
Carl Hess, the borough planning director, said he knows of no new site plans in the borough’s possession.
Verizon, the second-biggest phone company in the U.S., saw its quarterly profit grow 4.5 percent earlier this year, Reuters reported this week. Net profit was $1.68 billion for the second quarter of 2007, according to Reuters.
Quarterly operating revenue at the company was $23.37 billion — up 6.3 percent.
While Verizon has seen growth in its Internet, wireless and video services, Reuters reported, phone companies in general have suffered a decline in the volume of conventional, fixed phone lines.
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