Construction could begin as soon as next year on a student apartment building on the west side of State College.

Balfurd Cleaners, 320 W. Beaver Ave., would be torn down and a six-story apartment building will take its place.

Business partners Brad Karch and Heidi Nicholas, of Blue Mountain Harmony LLC, recently signed an agreement to purchase the property. The sale should be completed this fall, Karch said.

Sketches of the structure are still preliminary, Karch said, the building is currently set to have six floors, 68 one- and two-bedroom apartment units, and "some sort of retail office" on the first floor. Construction will probably begin next year and finish in 2006. It is still unclear what the occupancy of each apartment will be. Karch said students would probably be able to rent apartments for the 2006-2007 school year.

He added that tearing down the current structure and building a new one was justified because the acreage holds more value than the current building. Karch said he is required to provide his residents with available parking, but his plan for an 80-space garage is still incomplete.

He said he needs eight more standard parking spots, which he would like to purchase from the State College borough's proposed Beaver Avenue/Fraser Street parking garage near the property.

Karch added he would have to dig deeper for the parking garage and would prefer to purchase the eight spaces from the borough.

Karch proposed the purchase at last Monday's State College Borough Council meeting. However, the council did not meet the plan with enthusiasm.

Council President Tom Daubert said the borough is not lenient about allowing developers to purchase parking spaces. In the past, developers were able to purchase parking spots from nearby public parking lots and garages, but the policy has changed.

The borough's hesitation about selling parking spaces stems from the council's goal to heighten commercial success by attracting customers to the downtown area with additional parking, council member Craig Humphrey said.

"The garage is being put up so that people come and it will help commercial businesses, not for developers," Humphrey said. "People who start thinking about letting developers buy [parking] spots are confusing what the purpose of the garage is. The goal is to enhance opportunities downtown."

Humphrey said eight parking spaces would cost the developers between $160,000 to $200,000.

Daubert added that the borough would consider the idea and discuss it at tonight's council meeting.