Parts of a Pretzel Empire Are for Sale in Amish Country GAP, Pa. - Since 1988, philanthropy and a highly successful brand of soft pretzel have combined to provide marriage counseling and other family services to this community in Lancaster County, some 55 miles west of Philadelphia. The rise of Auntie Anne's pretzels from a local market stand to an international franchise empire paid for the construction of a family center that includes meeting rooms, medical offices and a cafe, on 94 acres of former farmland in an area best known for its inhabitants" horse-drawn buggies, straw hats and flowing skirts. Now the center, together with four other buildings and the undeveloped land, zoned for commercial or industrial use, is being sold in two auctions that offer a renewed opportunity for development and some 106,000 square feet of commercial space. The land - along with a commercial building housing the family center and a private residence - is being auctioned by sealed bids, which are due by Dec. 5. Another private home, together with a 53,000-square-foot professional building and an early 19th-century house that has been restored for office and conference use, will be sold by open-outcry auction on Dec. 11, according to the New York real estate firm Madison Hawk Partners, which is managing the sales. The assets on the property - known collectively as Houston Run - may be sold individually, but all are subject to auction at the preset times rather than being sold on the open market, a process that can be prolonged, Jeffrey L. Hubbard, president of Madison Hawk, said in an interview. The owners, Jonas and Anne Beiler, a couple who grew up in Amish and Mennonite families, are moving to Texas to be near one of their daughters and want to dispose of the Pennsylvania property quickly, Mr. Hubbard said. "It's an efficient portfolio sale," Mr. Hubbard said in an interview. It offers all of the properties at the same time but individually. The private homes include the Beilers" residence, a six-bedroom home on 2.78 acres, and a 5,600-square-foot home currently occupied by the couple's older daughter. Also up for auction is the 6,000-square-foot Ellmaker House, dating from about 1820. It is the current headquarters of the Beilers" corporate and charitable activities, and contains offices and conference spaces. Mr. Hubbard declined to speculate on sale prices for the properties. According to the Madison Hawk website, the professional building previously had an asking price of $4.65 million, and has a suggested opening bid of $1.9 million. The commercial building has an estimated net operating income of $367,000 annually. Some of the buildings had been offered for sale individually but the transactions were not completed because of the lengthy process of selling them that way, and the Beilers" desire for a quick conclusion. "They are just interested in accelerating the process," said LaVale Reavis, one of their two daughters. She is chief executive of the JoAnn Group, which manages the company's real estate and investments. The undeveloped part of the property - farmland and grassland - lies along Route 30, a busy corridor through Lancaster County. Sixty acres is zoned for industrial use while the remainder is zoned commercial. The land overlooks a distribution center operated by the apparel company Urban Outfitters, next to which the company is building a $105 million order-fulfillment center. The new building, which is expected to create some 500 jobs, is also expected to raise interest in the auctions. Ahead of the auctions, there has been "continuous interest" from industrial, commercial and residential developers, and others interested in leasing offices in the professional building, Ms. Reavis said. After relocating, Jonas Beiler, 66, plans to continue his philanthropic activities, and Anne Beiler, 64, will pursue her career as a professional speaker, Ms. Reavis said. Mrs. Beiler is in demand as a speaker, Ms. Reavis said, because of the success of the pretzel company, which had its origins at a market stall in Downingtown, Pa., in 1988. It was sold for an undisclosed sum in 2005 after growing to some 850 franchises in 17 countries. The pretzel company is now based in nearby Lancaster. The couple, both of whom started with only an eighth-grade education, succeeded because of their hard work and Christian faith, engendered by being raised on Amish farms in Lancaster County, Ms. Reavis said. Their Amish upbringing "has totally influenced how they do business, and their desire to give back," she said in an interview. The values that they learned growing up Amish have definitely helped them be successful. The area's Amish heritage can still be seen in and around Houston Run. During a recent visit, two horses hitched to gray buggies waited in a shed next to a parking lot outside the family center. On the far side of Route 30, a team of horses driven by an Amish man drew a plow across a field. The family center grew out of a desire by Mr. Beiler to offer marriage counseling services like those he and his wife benefited from when they earlier lived in Texas, Ms. Reavis said. "When they moved back to Pennsylvania, his hope was to be able to provide free marriage counseling to this community," she said. So that her husband could devote himself full time to counseling, Anne Beiler took a job at the Downingtown farmer's market, a position that led to the formation of Auntie Anne's Inc., their daughter said. The success of the business allowed the couple to purchase the two farms that make up Houston Run and to build the current complex. Although the Beilers say they hope that the family center will continue to offer its services when the building is sold, they recognize that its fate is uncertain. "There is a big unknown factor in terms of who will own the property, but we feel very confident that it will continue to serve the community," Ms. Reavis said. Lester O. Houck, a supervisor of the surrounding Salisbury Township, predicted in an interview that the social services in the family center would continue regardless of the buyer. He said the Beilers encouraged churches and other nonprofit organizations to offer their services - free to those unable to afford them - in the family center. "They have been wonderful," he said. We are just sorry to see them go because they were great people to work with.