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‘Hunger Games’ village now for sale, says owner

Posted at 11:00 PM, Apr 15, 2012
and last updated 2012-04-15 23:00:25-04

(CNN) The town that became District 12 for "The Hunger Games" movie is up for sale. Wade Shepherd owns the mill village in North Carolina, and he's ready for a new owner to come along.

“I never thought in my wildest dreams that this would ever be a movie location,” said Wade Shepherd, owner of Henry River Mill Village.

“The first Saturday after the movie showed, at 7:00 in the morning, I came over to do some maintenance and found a car here that had driven 1,400 miles.”

Standing in front of a bakery that was used in "The Hunger Games" movie, Shepherd said he is selling because of his age.

“Hopefully, I'm going to live to be 100, 120 but I think it's time to be planning now.”

The town is an old cotton mill village started in 1900 and stopped operations in the mid-60s.
“I'm old enough that I lived through most of that!,” said Shepherd.

He bought the property as an investment in 1975.

“It's 72 acres of village, with 20-some buildings still left. Three or four went by fire. And of course, the movie - I gave them one to blow up.”

The fact that the "The Hunger Games" movie was made, the attraction for seeing the District 12 has been phenomenal. The movie, based on the best-selling book, has topped the box office for a fourth straight weekend.

It's now brought in $337 million dollars.

“I couldn't imagine what has happened the last two weeks. Unreal. People from everywhere. People with families, and there's been cars here from almost every state in the union," said Shepherd.

Shepherd said he has received calls from Florida, New Jersey, nearby Hickory, and multiple calls from California.

“I still consider it a good investment, and if I were your age, it would not be for sale!”

Shepherd has listed the selling of the village at $ 1. 4 million dollars.