Apple and Oranges Inc. paid $2.1 million
By: Lacey Korevec
The township auctioned the Barclay North and South properties for $2.1 million on June 15.
Apple and Oranges Inc. was the highest bidder at the auction.
According to Max Spann, president of Max Spann Auctioneers, Apples and Oranges Inc. is owned by a private individual who invests in agricultural properties. The individual did not want to be identified.
"Their plan is to at least initially lease it out to local farmers," Mr. Spann said.
The Township Committee will vote Monday to accept or reject the bid. The money made from selling the property will go toward paying down debt from the township’s $3.5 million purchase of the land in June 2000 from the Barclay family. The land is deed restricted for agricultural use.
Committeeman Richard Stannard said Monday that the township is looking forward to putting the matter to rest. The township’s previous attempt to auction the property in October 2004 was derailed by a lawsuit.
"It went wonderfully well," he said. "We’re very pleased to get $2.1 million, which was more than we got at the last auction. We have every reason to believe we will close soon and the township will be able to get its money."
Mr. Spann said the next-highest bidder offered $2.05 million. There were 16 bidders.
This was the second auction held in recent years for the 190 acres of farmland, which sits west of North Main Street. The legality of the first auction was challenged by Cranbury resident Arthur Danser, who was the highest bidder at that event, bidding $1.9 million.
Mr. Danser a farmer who lived on the property from 1929 until November refused to enter into a contract with the township to buy the property saying that the township improperly extended the deadline for bids, bringing more bidders into the auction, which he said forced him to increase his bid from $1.2 million to $1.9 million.
The deadline to submit bids for the October 2004 auction had been extended by former Township Administer Frederick Carr without passage of a resolution by the Township Committee. Mr. Danser’s suit said that because the Township Committee had set the original deadline by resolution, it could only be changed by a second resolution.
In November 2005, Judge Joseph C. Messina ruled that the auction was legal and in August 2006, after Mr. Danser challenged the first ruling, judges Mary Catherine Cuff and John Hoston Jr., of the Appellate Division of Superior Court, ruled that the auction was conducted legally.
Mr. Danser was present at last week’s auction, but did not bid.
Staff writer Michelle McGuinness contributed to this story.

