GRAND BLANC TWP., MI - Kris Werner remembers trying to get the high score on every game in the Playland Park arcade.

"My dad would come in and say, 'you've been playing games at work, you've got the high score on these three games,'" he chuckled while standing outside the business off Dort Highway started by his father, Henry, in 1969. "He'd always catch me."

Werner, 60, hoped to keep the business open for 50 years, but a short time after listing the nearly 15-acre property on the market, a purchase has been agreed on with Grand Blanc Township for $530,000.

Supervisor Scott Bennett said the funds are coming out of the township's Department of Public Works fund. The deal is expected to be finalized on Thursday afternoon.

"If we're looking at being the size of a Troy or Rochester in 25 years, we're going to need additional property for expansion to take care of the needs of our residents," he said. "It's just something to consider."

Census estimates show the township lost roughly 2 percent of its population between 2010 and 2016.

With the land contiguous to the township property, Bennett said it was a logical choice should the local government ever need room to expand, be it for the DPW or the township police or fire departments.

"If we want to use only half the property, we can use and sell off the remaining balance of it," he said.

Werner said space now occupied by multiple go-kart tracks and a miniature golf course may also make a nice park space, complete with some wetlands.

As tastes in entertainment changed over the years for families and adults, the business also changed its offerings - from pinball to arcades games. A haunted house attraction and escape rooms were added to the facility, many of which were staffed by local teenagers.

"Every little kid in the neighborhood, they want to walk up here and then they want to work here," said Werner. "We hire quite a few of them to work the haunted house. That takes about 60 people to work that. A lot of kids, they cut their acting chops in there or they try. It's a fun job too."

One thing he won't miss about the job: the go-karts.

"I'll tell you what, I've never been hit by a go-kart," he said proudly. "I've had many, many of my employees get hit by those things ... 25 miles an hour by a 300-pound machine is not fun, not when they are hitting you in the ankles."

He's been receiving phone calls and texts from several of those former employees, now grown and living all across the country, about the decision to sell.

But Werner felt it was time to hang it up, speaking of some aches and pains and lean years of late.

"It's a tough market in this area," he said. "It became a labor of love and my wife is like 'you're spinning your wheels.'"

The purchase price was a little lower than he would have liked, but Werner took it in stride.

"You never know what you're going to get," he said.

Werner thanked the community for their support over the years that allowed him to grow up but still be a kid for nearly 50 years.

"I had the greatest job. I got to play every day," he said. "I'm going to miss it."