Hershey Estates & Storage sold for $11.6M to previously fined operator

Billing itself as a “beautifully landscaped 55+ community,” Hershey Estates & Storage’s community of more than 130 manufactured homes has more than doubled the value of the land it sits on since 2022.

The new owner, according to newspaper and government records, has previously been the target of complaints regarding property management issues, including at least two that incurred sizable fines.

The two tracts, a combined 30.91 acres, last sold for $3,997,400 in 2022 (PDF) when Hershey Estates & Storage LLC bought the property from Steven V. and Judy L. Oliver.

The same tracts sold in August (PDF) for $11,600,000 to Hershey Estates Management LLC, just short of a 300% increase over three years.

According to state records, Hershey Estates & Storage LLC was organized by Harrisburg-based attorney Thomas P. Gacki apparently on behalf of Orlando-based Stewart MHP Investments LLC, based on address and name matching with the deed, while Hershey Estates Management LLC was organized (PDF) by Morgantown-based Frank Perano.

According to news reports, Perano owns scores of mobile home parks in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia.

As of 2012, the number was 73 – that’s the figure quoted in the U.S. Department of Justice press release about a settlement with Perano over drinking water and waste water violations that included a $1,339,000 penalty.

That same year, the Hummelstown Sun reported that Perano was hit with a $78,000 civil penalty over the Cedar Manor Mobile Home Park in Londonderry Township for failing to repair the on-lot sewage system at the mobile home park.

More recently, Perano found himself called in front of Limerick Township supervisors in Montgomery County to hear complaints of widespread and long-running property management issues.

Perano does not appear to currently own any other mobile home parks in Lebanon County.