Shenandoah Woods Demolition Project Finds Contractor: Officials

WARMINSTER, PA - The abandoned Shenandoah Woods Navy development is one step closer to being razed with the township's award of a demolition contract, officials said Wednesday.

Beinke Wrecking was awarded the bid by the Warminster Board of Supervisors for the demolition project, the township announced on its Facebook page.

Initially constructed as part of Warminster's Naval Air Development Center (NADC), the federal government held on to Shenandoah Woods after the NADC's closure in 1996 and used it as off-base housing, according to a previous Patch report. After the announcement of that base's closure, the Horsham Land Reuse Authority (HLRA) worked with Warminster and Ivyland to submit a redevelopment plan to the federal government.

The vacant development was designated a blighted area in 2011 by the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority and Warminster planning commission, given the area’s inadequate planning, faulty street layout and economically undesirable land use. In 2012, it was approved to be razed.

An assessment from November 2011 valued the 51-acre property at $3 million, with the Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County anticipating a negotiated purchase from the Navy for 24 acres at approximately $1.5 million, Patch previously reported.

The remaining 27 acres would be divided between two other entities, 25 acres conveyed to Warminster's Park and Recreation Department as open space, and 2 acres conveyed to Aldie Counseling Centers. Aldie will then sell those two acres to the BCRDA and use that money to fund its services.

In a prior attempt, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a plan that properly met considerations for the homeless community, a requirement for the sale of military property.

It’s unclear whether the plan is still underway. A request for comment from the township was not immediately returned Friday morning.

The area has not only been deemed a liability by local government: it’s also been labeled as an eyesore by many locals. Residents took to social media to express excitement about the demolition project on Wednesday:

“Zombieland is coming down!!!,” one user wrote.

“About time, such an eyesore,” another wrote.

While it’s unclear when demolition will begin, you can see video footage of the abandoned Shenandoah Woods from 2021 here.