MANALAPAN — One of the few surviving farms on the Route 9 commercial corridor has been sold at auction.
Bob Dann, an executive vice president with Max Spann Real Estate & Auction Co., said the 135-acre farm on Route 9 south at the corner of Pine Brook Road, Manalapan, sold for $2,475,000 during an auction that was held on March 25 at the Radisson Hotel, Freehold Township.
Dann said a local farmer, whom he declined to identify, bought the property.
The farm was entered into New Jersey’s farmland preservation program years ago and will remain deed-restricted to agricultural uses, according to the firm.
According to a press release from Max Spann Real Estate & Auction Co., the farm has more than 1,700 feet of frontage along Route 9 south. The property includes a fourbedroom home with rental income, a 1,792- square-foot commercial building, a 30-by-24-foot workshop/garage, a 1,640- square-foot barn and a 1,056-square-foot barn. The property generates $5,200 annually in billboard rental income.
Max Spann, of the real estate firm, said the commercial building — a former residence — on Route 9 south is excluded from the farmland preservation deed restriction and may continue to house commercial and/or professional uses as it has in the past.
The deed restriction on the farm limits uses to farming, livestock, a nursery, limited greenhouses and agritourism, according to Spann.
Agritourism is defined as a commercial enterprise at a working farm that is conducted for the enjoyment of visitors and generates supplemental farm income, according to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
The farm on Route 9 south that was sold was owned by the Wikoff family. Spann said the family will continue to farm the property it owns on Route 9 north, directly across from the farm that was auctioned off.
— Mark Rosman