![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/REG-L-ManderbachFordDemo1007.jpg\")
The former Manderbach Ford dealership at 4450 N. Fifth St. Highway in Muhlenberg Township has been demolished for construction of a Wawa and Mister Car Wash. (BILL UHRICH\/MEDIANEWS GROUP)<\/p>\nThe former Manderbach Ford in Muhlenberg Township is being demolished and redeveloped, township officials confirmed.<\/p>\n
The plan is to transform the site at 4450 and 4500 N. Fifth Street Highway into a Wawa and Mister Car Wash, according to Jim Bobeck, township manager.<\/p>\n
Those plans were approved by the township commissioners in October 2024, Bobeck said.<\/p>\n
The project calls for demolishing Manderbach Ford buildings that include the showroom and mechanics bays, while preserving a smaller building toward the rear of the property.<\/p>\n
Bobeck said that Wawa will be on the right side of the the property and Mister Car Wash on the left, with a shared driveway running between them which can be used to access the smaller building in the rear.<\/p>\n
The lot is to be subdivided, and the building that will remain has already been sold, Bobeck noted.<\/p>\n
There are currently no plans for that building.<\/p>\n
He said the township doesn\u2019t yet have a timeline for demolition or construction, but earthwork at the site is expected to continue late into the year.<\/p>\n
The former Manderbach Ford dealership at 4450 N. Fifth St. Highway in Muhlenberg Township has been demolished for construction of a Wawa and Mister Car Wash. (BILL UHRICH\/MEDIANEWS GROUP)<\/p>\n
The Manderbach Ford lot was bought by Newman Development Associates LLC. in November 2024, according to Berks County property records.<\/p>\n
The New York-based developer was behind another project in Muhlenberg to renovate a 3-acre blighted property in the 4200 block of Fifth Street Highway into a retail center.<\/p>\n
That center, completed in 2019, includes a Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread and Visions Credit Union. A MOD Pizza at the site has since closed.<\/p>\n
Manderbach Ford completed a move to another location at Route 61, Grand Street and Front Street in Hamburg in 2018.<\/p>\n
That location changed its name to Kinley Ford in January. However, Kinley Ford of Hamburg abruptly closed in mid-September. A message on the dealership\u2019s main telephone line indicates the business is temporarily closed, and hopes \u201cto reopen soon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Manderbach Ford in Muhlenberg Township is being demolished and redeveloped, township officials confirmed. The plan is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,60,12116,973,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-16700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-hamburg","11":"tag-muhlenberg-township","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading-city","14":"tag-reading-city-headlines","15":"tag-reading-city-news","16":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}