Roadside America property is sold, but buyer’s plans are unclear
The former Roadside America property, home to the “world’s greatest indoor miniature village” for 85 years, and its neighboring real estate have been sold for $1.1 million, though future plans for the site remain unclear.
Husband and wife Terry L. and Tina M. Shaner, who list an address in Tilden Township, Berks County, bought the properties that are along Interstate 78 in Upper Bern Township, according to three deed transactions recorded Jan. 4 with the Berks County Recorder of Deeds.
Terry Shaner is listed as the president of S&S Leasing and Transport Inc. at 251 Maple Drive in Tilden, according to Pennsylvania Department of
State records. According to his LinkedIn account, S&S Leasing has been in the construction, transportation, warehousing and equipment rental business since 1976.
A message left at S&S Leasing for Shaner was not immediately returned. A message left at a number listed for Tina Shaner also was not returned.
Real estate broker Marshall Lytle, who began marketing Roadside America and its neighboring properties in early 2018 at an asking price of $2.295 million, did not return calls seeking comment. That list price gradually fell to $1.4 million.
According to the property’s listing, the sale includes the former Roadside America facility at 109 Roadside Drive, a 3,000-square-foot gift shop and numerous other buildings on about 22 acres. The sale also included a residential home.
The deal closed not long after Roadside America announced Nov. 21 on Facebook that it was permanently closing, officially ending the run of a pintsize wonderland that offered a panorama of life in the rural U.S. that included painstakingly detailed buildings, trains and waterways.
Roadside America and its president, Dolores Heinsohn, the granddaughter of creator Laurence Gieringer, had searched for a buyer for nearly three years, hoping to find someone willing to continue the business. But none of the interested parties over the years were committed to moving forward with the village.
Roadside America Corporate Secretary Bettina Heinsohn, Dolores Heinsohn’s daughter, told The Morning Call on Nov. 22 that the family had “negotiated terms regarding the property” but could not disclose the buyer or the buyer’s plans for the property.
Bettina Heinsohn, however, did say at the time that it was “a fair assessment” that the buyer’s plans didn’t include running the miniature village that mesmerized visitors.
Further proof is that Roadside America is in the midst of auctioning off its display pieces, including buildings, bridges, figures and animations.
Bidding through the Renaissance Auction Group started in late December and is scheduled to end at 6 p.m. Saturday.