Ridiculous lines and unbearable crowding might be a thing of the past at one of State College’s most popular student bars.

Located on Beaver Ave, the Phyrst has always been a late night staple for Penn State students, alumni, and dads. The mountains of fries, green hats, and car bomb shots come with a price, however — the Phyrst also unquestionably boasts the longest queue to get inside on most nights in State College, with the line often stretching down the block. Luckily, Phyrst owner Mike Fullington recently signed off on a renovation project that will alleviate some of that congestion and construction is well underway to add more space.

According to manager Tyler Higgins, the main reason for the renovation plan is to create more space to accommodate for the dive bar’s extreme popularity. Higgins noted that at full capacity, elbow room is hard to come by, the line outside can be frustratingly long, and the bands that perform have very little stage area to set up equipment.

The back wall behind the main stage was knocked down this week, where the area that used to be the storage room will be available to use. The wall’s absence makes room for a larger dance floor and two additional women’s restroom stalls. Fullington is also building a new, vastly larger performing stage with dimensions around 15×9 feet. The new stage will adjust for the larger acts that come through and give them more area to put equipment.

The much-needed new space will also increase The Phyrst’s capacity by 60, making the total capacity 285 people. Higgins mentioned that the extra area won’t include more seats or a bar extension, but both ideas are swimming around his and Fullington’s heads for the future.

“Our renovations are supposed to finish on Monday, January 11,” Higgins said with a laugh. “But if they’re not, we’ll definitely still be open for business.”