Update Sunday, June 24: The liquor license application at the planned BRGR site also includes a provision for serving alcohol on an outdoor patio, which will supposedly be 28′ x 20′. After investigating the area, we can’t for the life of us figure out where this size patio could go, but follow along for more updates and you’ll know when we know.

Original story: We’ve got custom pizza. We’ve got donuts. We’ve got tacos. And now we’ve finally got a burger joint worth talking about. Pittsburgh-based BRGR will open a State College location downtown at the former site of Citizens’ Bank, which closed its College Avenue branch in 2016.

BRGR is best known for its burgers and milkshakes, but also serves a variety of other items like tacos, mac ‘n’ cheese, poutine and more.

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A notice was posted in January on the door of the former Citizens’ Bank announcing a public hearing to transfer a liquor license into the Borough for BRGR. At that point, a representative for the restaurant indicated it hoped to open a shop in State College by year-end but had not finalized a location. The liquor license hearing was later canceled.

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“We’re excited to be moving into State College and are thrilled to have found such a great space for BRGR,” Rick Stern, owner of S+P Restaurant Group, which operates BRGR and several other popular Pittsburgh restaurants, told StateCollege.com. “We look forward to bringing our gourmet burgers and handmade shakes to everyone there.”

It’s clear now that BRGR was able to strike a deal for the building in the past six months or so, as the new goal is to open Happy Valley location — the restaurant’s first outside of Pittsburgh — in early January 2019. Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all!

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“We’ve been looking in a lot of different spots for awhile,” Ayer said. “We wanted to expand the brand. We know State College is a great market. Obviously there’s a lot of people from Pittsburgh who make their way up there for school or have a close connection, so there’s some awareness of the brand. We just think it’s a nice place for us to bring gourmet burgers and handmade shakes.”

The block is shaping up to be quite the Pittsburgh takeover, as fast-casual salad restaurant Hello Bistro also announced plans to take over the former location of The Diner next door. “Eat’n Park’s sassy cousin” hasn’t announced a target opening date, but is already hard at work remodeling the building.