If you’ve ever dreamed of having the ability to boot scoot in a dance hall of your very own, now’s your chance. And you don’t even have to squeeze on your boots to make an offer.
This historic Swiss Alp Dance Hall in Swiss Alp, Texas, is now up for grabs on eBay. That’s right, you can buy the 8,529-square-foot property auction style online — but the offers keep rising.
While the bid was at a mere $6,000 early Tuesday morning, by lunchtime it had increased to more than $50,000. The auction is slated to end on July 5 at 12:37 p.m.
Located off U.S. Route 77 right between Austin, San Antonio and Houston, the eBay listing states that the property is a historic hall that was built specifically for dancing.
“Swiss Alp Dance Hall is a classic example of a historic hall that has seen virtually all of the changing trends and styles of Texas popular music over the last century,” the eBay item description states.
Iconic artists such as Bob Wills, Johnny Winter, B.J. Thomas, and Roy Head and The Traits, all graced the stage in Swiss Alp Dance Hall history. In more recent times, you may have caught Texas favorites like Asleep at the Wheel, Kevin Fowler, Roger Creager or Stoney LaRue.
While the building itself may be more than 100 years old — and perhaps because of the boot scooting crowds these artists brought in — you can expect a little bit of “wear and tear,” the listing states. You can also expect a 7,000-square-foot wood-framed hall with a barn-like structure, a gabled roof, a pier-and-beam foundation, and awning-style, wooden-flap windows that “maximize the south Texas breeze.”
Also included in the purchase will be a fully furnished café next to the dance hall along with the 2 acres the property sits on. The dance hall is believed to have been built in the year 1900.
The Swiss Alp Dance Hall has most recently been managed and operated by property owners Kevin and Donna Ustynik. As of Tuesday afternoon, their undisclosed reserve price for the property had not been met.
“Owning and operating a real Texas Dancehall is all that you can imagine and more,” Kevin told KVUE. “If you want to really feel like a Texan, operating a hall will connect your heart to your community like nothing else. The community becomes part of your life and builds memories that will never end.”
He said the hall’s location has drawn college students throughout the 1900s, where generations of guests have met, danced and even gotten married.
“There is something magical about seeing a tiny young girl out on the dancefloor dancing on her great-grandfather’s toes, a young boy learning to dance with his great-grandmother, children just old enough to walk dancing with their parents, or parents waltzing around the floor with their baby on shoulder,” said Kevin. “You can feel the memories happening as you watch.”
Kevin said he and his wife stumbled upon the opportunity to buy the property in 2005 during a family visit in the area. He later learned that his mother’s family settled there in the early 1800s on a hill just across the valley within sight of the dance hall.
“I guess it was just meant to be,” he said.
Though the property will still hold fond places in their hearts, the Ustyniks are retiring and have said that it’s time for them to share that special feeling of operating a long-living Texas hall with someone else.
“The ideal future [for Swiss Alp Dancehall] is a new owner/operator with a Texas-sized heart and a desire to share the best place in Texas, a Texas dance hall,” said Kevin.
