After three years of discussion, demolition will begin in February on a $30 million project that would bring a new residential building and a 10-screen cinema to Fraser Street.

Teresa Sparacino, director of the Downtown Improvement District, said plans for the new complex, which will be located on the 100 block of South Fraser Street, are well underway.

The new complex will include a 12-story residential building for professionals and families, space for offices and businesses and a 10-screen cinema center, planning director Carl Hess said. He added work will be completed within a year or more.

"A big movie theater would be cool because there's really not a lot to do downtown," Megan Howlett (junior-psychology) said.

Others agreed that the student-friendly attraction would be a welcome change for downtown State College.

"I think it would be great to have somewhere we could walk to downtown," Katie

Finelli (junior-kinesiology) said. "Plus, the other theater in Calder Alley is so small."

The creation of the Fraser Street Complex is a result of a partnership among the Downtown Improvement District, the State College Borough Council and real estate organizations.

In an agreement with the borough, Susquehanna Real Estate will soon begin investigating locations for support columns, Hess said.

The demolition in the area will eliminate the Medical Arts Building located on the corner of Beaver and Fraser streets, as well as the former municipal building, Sparacino said.

The borough has anticipated receiving state funding to help with the project. Sparacino would not comment on state funding and Gov. Ed Rendell's office could not be reached for comment by press time.

A realignment project for Fraser Street at the Beaver intersection is also being designed. The borough plans to revamp the busy street by changing the current broken pattern of the road to a gentler curve, Hess said. The project should be completed in 2008.

"The idea is to make it a more typical four-way intersection to improve traffic movement," he said.

The plan calls for the road north of Beaver Avenue to shift west until the south end of the Fraser and Beaver Street intersection lines up with the north side.

Work on the realignment project will have no effect on the improvements to the Fraser Centre Complex, Hess said.