The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Sheetz site in Exeter sold to Berks businessman
Over the years, Hamid Chaudhry has made it his mission to purchase and turn around businesses in Berks County.
Dairy Queen locations in Kenhorst and Exeter Township, the Lukoil gas station in West Reading, the Wyomissing Family Restaurant & Bakery and the Shillington Farmers Market are among the success stories for the businessman.
Chaudhry recently announced a new project. He has purchased the site of a former Sheetz convenience store and gas station at 6600 Perkiomen Ave. in Exeter Township for $750,000. Wyomissing-based NAI Keystone Commercial & Industrial LLC handled the sale.
“I take it and spit-shine it,” Chaudhry said in a phone interview. “Every single property I’ve owned. I work with old stuff.”
Sheetz left the parcel in 2019, moving the location about 4 miles west down Perkiomen Avenue to a newly constructed store at the site of the former Bowl-ORama in the heart of Exeter’s retail district.
The former Sheetz, which had been at the corner of Perkiomen and Sunset Manor Drive in the outskirts of Baumstown for 20 years, has been stripped of its gas pumps and only the building remains.
Chaudhry says he was surprised to get the 2.67-acre, squareshaped corner lot for that price.
“I’m blessed to get it at $750,000,” he said.
Even though the site is a few miles away from the township’s retail center, township Manager Jeff Bartlett was pleased someone is going to redevelop it.
“Any time a vacant commercial parcel is developed it is helpful for the township,” Bartlett said. “Although this is not in the heavy retail center, it is still along a corridor that has good highway access and traffic visibility.”
Chaudhry said rumors of sinkholes on the property likely kept other potential buyers away. However, he had the property, which was once a landfill for sanitation company J.P. Mascaro & Sons, inspected and no sinkholes were found.
“I don’t have a long history with the township but my understanding is that much of the sinkhole issue is rumor,” Bartlett said. “Portions of that area were filled many years ago and settlement occurred, but that was more likely due to poor compaction of the fill versus actual sinkholes. Portions of Exeter Township are prone to sinkhole formation so it is possible a sinkhole can develop,