Max Spann Burlington County Auction Featured in the Register-News

This article originally appeared in the Register-News (PDF)

SPRINGFIELD — Three township tracts of preserved county-owned farmland totaling 476 acres will be auctioned Feb. 22.

The auction will be at the Rutgers EcoComplex on Florence-Columbus Road and conducted by the Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Co. at 1 p.m.

The farms are the 213-acre BF&W North Farm between Route 206 and Folwell Station Road, the 123-acre BF&W South Farm at Route 206 and Jacksonville-Jobstown Road and the 140-acre Ziegler and Walder Farm on Juliustown Road.

None of the tracts contain a farmhouse, although under the preservation rules, one primary residence may be built on each parcel as well as barns and farm-related buildings, said Max Spann, president of the auction company.

The development rights have been stripped from the properties so the only activities permitted on site have to be farm-related.
No minimum bid has been set for the tracts, and the county has the option of rejecting a high bid, Mr. Spann said, but added the county’s objective is to get the land back in public hands.

He said he has so far received a few dozen calls about the farms.

”The market (for land) is generally down, but it is not as down much in this sector as in other sectors,” Mr. Spann said.

This is because in a state as densely populated as New Jersey, large tracts are a rarity, he said, and because commodity prices are strong.