It reads like the makings of a Schitt’s Creek sequel, but this story is no made-for-TV fiction.
A Riverside county truck stop owner has won the ownership rights to a neighboring ghost town for $6.25 million. With opening bids at $5 million, according to the O.C. Register, Balwinder Singh Wraich picked up the 1,034.78 acres of property in and around Desert Center earlier this summer.
And now the question is: what will he do with it?
According to the newspaper, Desert Center is an empty desert outpost in the Chuckwalla Valley, about 50 miles from either Blythe or Indio. The land includes two gas stations, a cafe, a hotel, store, school. All are abandoned.
While not technically a city or a formal town in the eye’s of the government, the Census Bureau estimates 219 people lived in Desert Center in 2019. The biggest nearby population center, per the O.C. Register, is at Lake Tamarisk.
The nearest gas station (in operation) is 19 miles away. Groceries are even further—a 50-mile drive.
But the few locals who spoke with the O.C. Register say they have high hopes for the new owner. Click here to read more on Desert Center’s incorporation and what could lay ahead.