'Walking Dead' zombie town for sale

'Walking Dead' zombie town for sale

Last time you saw Grantville, it may well have been overrun by zombies.

Tourists have breathed new life into the town.
Tourists have breathed new life into the town.

Here's your chance to bring it back to life. So to speak.

The little town in rural Georgia — 5 square miles, 3,000 (living) inhabitants — had been in decline since the closure of its cotton mill, though it had found some modest success as a filming location in movies like Kevin Costner's "The War" (1994) and "Broken Bridges" (2006). The 2012 movie "Lawless," with Shia LeBeouf, Jessica Chastain and Tom Hardy, filmed there, too.

Then the zombies came to town, and nothing was ever the same.

Grantville's star turn on the cable hit phenomenon "The Walking Dead" brought the hamlet unexpected fame as the abandoned hometown of the show's hero, Rick. "Walking Dead" fans started flocking to the town from far and wide — Singapore, Brazil, Australia. (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow.)

"We don't understand it," then-Mayor Jim Sells told the Associated Press in 2013.

"Once this episode aired from 'The Walking Dead,' people started showing up from all over."

True to his name, Sells sees an investment opportunity for someone with vision. He owns a sizable chunk of downtown, and he has listed nine buildings on Ebay for $680,000 -- or you can have 11 buildings for $940,000, amounting to 90 percent of downtown. That's every building on the south side of Main Street and Church Street except for the VFW, according to the local paper.

Former Mayor Jim Sells in front of his real estate office. Click any photo for a slideshow.
Former Mayor Jim Sells in front of his real estate office. Click any photo for a slideshow.

“We want a big investor who can use our town to its fullest potential,” Sells said. “It takes more than money. It takes knowledge and a skill-set far beyond what I currently have.”

He says the buildings are already bringing in $6,500 a month in rentals with less than half of the space let, "so instant revenue." And three movies have recently signed on to film in town — one of them a follow-up to "The Ring," the other two with "very well-known actors." (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow.)

Sells paid $300,000 for a dozen commercial properties in foreclosure about three years ago, and invested about $150,000 in them, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He believes Grantville is on the verge of a boom, just like the one experienced by county neighbor Senoia — not coincidentally, also a big beneficiary of "The Walking Dead" hype.

"We watched that town explode," he told AJC.com.

He lacks the commercial expertise to give Grantville what it deserves, he said. "It’ll take the right guy on a white horse.

"I won't just take anybody."

Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of Grantville, Georgia, where nearly all of downtown is for sale.

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