In Austria you can buy mountain peaks, but in the US you can even buy a town, more precisely most of the town. For $799,000 you can be the owner of Scenic, a humble town an hour’s drive from Rapid City in South Dakota.
Current owner of the property is American businesswoman Twila Merril, who hopes to sell her 46 acres in total (12 acres in town and 34 acres around it). Within the town, buyer will also get a post office, convenience store, dance hall, two retail stores, a train depot, saloon, museum, two houses and two jails, and 8 people who live there, if they do not migrate in the meantime.
The businesses and land has always been family-run, but now, it’s time for someone else to come in and bring it back to life, said LeeAnn Keester, the daughter of Twila Merril, who has listed most of the town of Scenic for sale. It’s just me and my mom now, and now, with her health being what it is, it’s just too much for us.
Scenic has been on the market for more than two years and its price is bargain-basement. Ms Merril was originally asking $3million for the property, but lowered the price when it didn’t sell. Traffic still passes through Scenic, which is in the middle of rugged and beautiful Badlands National Forest, but tourists have no reason to stop and rarely do.
The town sees around 700 cars go through on a day-to-day basis, David Olsen, the real estate broker selling the property told. We just need one to stop long enough and get a buyer in here. [David T. Olsen Real Estate]
