Wawa heirs' Delco mansion on auction block

Heirs of the Robbins family, who made their money in construction and shopping centers (Prices Corner, 555 City Ave.), are selling Felicity Farm, 320 Wawa Road, off Baltimore Pike/US 1, through Concierge Auctions of New York and Debbie McCabe of Prudential Fox & Roach, on June 9, 11 a.m.

Felicity is part of the former family estate of George Wood, the South Jersey industrialists who started Wawa Dairy more than a century ago and continue to hold stock and senior management posts in the $5 billion (yearly sales) store chain. (An earlier version of this item wrongly said the Wood heirs, not the Robbins, were selling the house).

The three-level, 6-bedroom, 7-bath stone-and-brick mansion, complete with horse barns and paddocks (the place looks like a village), on 16 hilly acres in a neighborhood still populated by Wood family members, didn't fetch its intial $3.7 million price, or even a $2.5 million reduced price, during a year on the market, so it's now being offered at a "reserve" minimum target of $1.5 million, with a "pre-sale estimate of $1.9 million to $2.49 million".

That means "any bid at or above $1.5 million, the buyer is obligated to sell," said Concierge cofounder Laura Brady. Buyers' agents will get a 2.5 percent commission.

"There's a lot of high-end inventory out there right now," said McCabe. The hillside site was part of the extensive farm set up by Wawa Dairy founder George Wood; the home was built by Richard Wood (father of current Wawa chairman Richard D. Wood Jr.), starting in 1936.  For more info, to set up a tour or register for the auction, check www.felicityfarmauction.com