The Edgemere Diner is an old beauty who has fallen upon hard times. The Edgemere is a classic 1940′s Fodero diner located in the town of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of diner-loving Worcester.
The town seized the diner for nonpayment of taxes in 1995, and for the past decade has been offering it for two-year, sealed-bid leases. It has been open under at least three different lessees during that time, but, in the words of Roadside Magazine, “while at least two of them did a fine job of running their businesses, the constraints of the lease prevented them from investing in the much-needed improvements to the diner itself. As a result, this icon of classic Americana has withered into something of a roadside wreck.”
This year the town decided to offer the land on a twenty year lease for $2,000 a month, and charge $1 for the diner. There was only one bidder, and that bid was withdrawn.
Meanwhile, the diner sits deteriorating on Route 20, awaiting rescue and rehabilitation.
Links
- Edgemere Diner to change hands — again — March 31, 2002 article from Roadside Online
- Edgemere Diner for sale; $1 — American Roadside’s republication of an article by Kevin Keenan, Telegram & Gazette, May 1, 2007
- No bids on diner — Article from the Shrewsbury Chronicle, July 11, 2007
