Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
BRANDYWINE PICNIC PARK SOLD
New owners plan recreational use for historic property
WEST CHESTER » The iconic Brandywine Picnic Park, which in its heyday was a destination site with a wooden roller coaster, paddle boats, miniature golf course, a huge swimming pool, bumper cars, merry-go-round, giant slides and even a petting zoo, has been sold.
The 22-acre site off Route 52 was sold last week for $580,000, well below its original asking price of $1.4 million nearly three years ago. Formerly the Lenape Park, it was purchased by a local partnership with a construction background
The park and many of its buildings took severe damage late last year from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and most of the buildings are not salvageable.
The uses for the property
are restricted by the flood plain status and likely will be only recreational use as an existing non-conforming use.
“The buyers have no immediate plans for the property and just want to purchase it while it was still available at a price and terms they were comfortable with,” said Eric Kuhn, managing partner with Pillar Real Estate Advisors, a Chester County real estate firm.
The buyers were represented by Kat Matson of Berkshire Hathaway.
Kuhn said the buyers participated in the clean up efforts of the property even before having it under contract to purchase.
He said the buyers have no immediate plans for the property and just wanted to purchase it while it was still available at a price and terms they were comfortable with.
One of the prospective buyers was a film production company working on a TV show that wanted to build a set replicating two city blocks of Rittenhouse Square to shoot the next three seasons of their show. The producers said buying the property would be much cheaper than shooting in the city. However, they backed out when they became aware of the regulations for building in a flood zone.
Conservation groups also showed interest in the property but backed out when they discovered the ongoing maintenance that would be required on the property.
Other prospective buyers pitched ideas such as installing a driving range, paint ball fields, zip line park, beer garden, motocross track, tennis camp, and summer concert venue, but backed out when they dialed in the cost of maintenance and insurance.
According to Kuhn, the prospective “buyer” pool was as varied as any he’d seen while representing properties for sale. It took about one hour each to tour the long list of buildings on the site.
“The Capps family (previous owner of the Brandywine Picnic Park who closed it in 2019) seems pleased that it is in the good hands of people who value the history of the property and the community of Chester County,” Kuhn said.
The Brandywine Picnic Park, which has a history of flooding, dates back to 1892.
In 1976, the park was sold to Calvin Jacobs who changed the name to Main Line Park and sold the famous carousel. In its prime, the park attracted as many as 200,000 people in a season.
The park took a huge hit when Hurricane Ida rolled through the region last fall. Floodwaters got as high as nine feet and many of the buildings were washed off their foundations, and floated down to the nearby bridge that spans the Brandywine Creek.