This is Massachussets, but might be a bad sign of the times for NJ. I guess most of the bogs here are protected from development though. Or are they?….
http://online.wsj.com/articles/cranberry-giant-adds-real-estate-to-the-mix-1407883940
Cranberry Giant Adds Real Estate to the Mix
A.D. Makepeace Breaks Ground on Mixed-Use Development
The world's largest cranberry grower is looking to the real-estate market to juice up the 160-year-old family business.
A.D. Makepeace Co. , which farms about 2,100 acres of cranberries for juice-maker Ocean Spray, recently broke ground on Redbrook village, a mixed-use development in Plymouth, Mass., that will include about 1,200 homes, a town square and 60,000 square feet of commercial space.
The development, which will share space with about 75 acres of cranberry bogs, is one of four major projects that Makepeace has planned or is under construction in eastern Massachusetts. Two developments will be located in Wareham, one a 150,000-square-foot technology office park and the other a 300,000-square-foot development that will include a TownePlace Suites by Marriott hotel and office, retail and medical space. The fourth project will be a nearly 200,000-square-foot retail development in Rochester. All of the developments are located on property that has been owned and farmed by the company for generations.
Makepeace's expansion into real-estate development comes as prices for cranberries are falling. An oversupply of the bitter berry has driven down prices for Massachusetts farmers, to $31.60 a barrel from $47 a barrel in 2012. Meanwhile, the value of farm land that can be converted to residential use is climbing.
The result is that many farmers have taken crops out of production and sold the land to developers, often for three times its value as farmland, according to Brad Hunter, chief economist at Metrostudy, a residential real-estate research firm.
Carolyn DeMoranville, director of the University of Massachusetts Cranberry Station, said farmers usually buy more land than needed for growing cranberries. They need to create buffers around the bogs, and reservoirs and irrigation ponds near the bogs, which are flooded during the harvest season so berries can float to the top and be corralled.
Ms. DeMoranville said in the past, this excess real estate has been a natural source of income for these eastern Massachusetts farmers, many of whom have taken on second jobs as cranberries have become increasingly difficult to make a living on.
"Our strategy is to have a series of businesses that support each other," said Chief Executive Michael Hogan. He stressed that Makepeace, the largest private landowner in the region with 13,400 acres, doesn't plan to leave farming. In fact, Makepeace is in the process of adding 140 new acres of cranberry bogs.
Planning for Redbrook village has been in the works for about a decade, but was delayed due to the recession. Town Planning Director Lee Hartmann also said Makepeace initially proposed a subdivision development that wasn't well-suited for the town. They eventually settled on the village concept, which required the town create a new type of zoning, slowing the approval process.
Unlike a typical subdivision, where single-family homes are spread out across a large swath of land that includes little if any commercial buildings, the village concept combines residential and commercial development in a dense core surrounded by acres of open space.
Makepeace will concentrate its development on 400 acres and preserve the rest of the property.
A sales center will open this month for buyers interested in the homes, which will range in price from the high-$300,000s to mid-$400,000s. The first four homes should be move-in ready by the end of the year.
Walter Foley, a local real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, said there is strong demand for new homes in the area.
"The greatest challenge we have today is lack of inventory," he said. "When a new property is listed, if it's market value, it's being sold within the first 30 days of listing."
Mr. Foley said cranberry bogs can be an appealing feature for Redbrook. In the summer season, cranberry farms are blanketed in white flowers that look like snow. Those flowers turn to red berries in the early fall as the harvest season approaches, when the bogs are flooded—an image made famous by Ocean Spray commercials.
If a property is on a cranberry bog, I would say it would certainly be a value-add," Mr. Foley said.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/cranberry-giant-adds-real-estate-to-the-mix-1407883940
Cranberry Giant Adds Real Estate to the Mix
A.D. Makepeace Breaks Ground on Mixed-Use Development
The world's largest cranberry grower is looking to the real-estate market to juice up the 160-year-old family business.
A.D. Makepeace Co. , which farms about 2,100 acres of cranberries for juice-maker Ocean Spray, recently broke ground on Redbrook village, a mixed-use development in Plymouth, Mass., that will include about 1,200 homes, a town square and 60,000 square feet of commercial space.
The development, which will share space with about 75 acres of cranberry bogs, is one of four major projects that Makepeace has planned or is under construction in eastern Massachusetts. Two developments will be located in Wareham, one a 150,000-square-foot technology office park and the other a 300,000-square-foot development that will include a TownePlace Suites by Marriott hotel and office, retail and medical space. The fourth project will be a nearly 200,000-square-foot retail development in Rochester. All of the developments are located on property that has been owned and farmed by the company for generations.
Makepeace's expansion into real-estate development comes as prices for cranberries are falling. An oversupply of the bitter berry has driven down prices for Massachusetts farmers, to $31.60 a barrel from $47 a barrel in 2012. Meanwhile, the value of farm land that can be converted to residential use is climbing.
The result is that many farmers have taken crops out of production and sold the land to developers, often for three times its value as farmland, according to Brad Hunter, chief economist at Metrostudy, a residential real-estate research firm.
Carolyn DeMoranville, director of the University of Massachusetts Cranberry Station, said farmers usually buy more land than needed for growing cranberries. They need to create buffers around the bogs, and reservoirs and irrigation ponds near the bogs, which are flooded during the harvest season so berries can float to the top and be corralled.
Ms. DeMoranville said in the past, this excess real estate has been a natural source of income for these eastern Massachusetts farmers, many of whom have taken on second jobs as cranberries have become increasingly difficult to make a living on.
"Our strategy is to have a series of businesses that support each other," said Chief Executive Michael Hogan. He stressed that Makepeace, the largest private landowner in the region with 13,400 acres, doesn't plan to leave farming. In fact, Makepeace is in the process of adding 140 new acres of cranberry bogs.
Planning for Redbrook village has been in the works for about a decade, but was delayed due to the recession. Town Planning Director Lee Hartmann also said Makepeace initially proposed a subdivision development that wasn't well-suited for the town. They eventually settled on the village concept, which required the town create a new type of zoning, slowing the approval process.
Unlike a typical subdivision, where single-family homes are spread out across a large swath of land that includes little if any commercial buildings, the village concept combines residential and commercial development in a dense core surrounded by acres of open space.
Makepeace will concentrate its development on 400 acres and preserve the rest of the property.
A sales center will open this month for buyers interested in the homes, which will range in price from the high-$300,000s to mid-$400,000s. The first four homes should be move-in ready by the end of the year.
Walter Foley, a local real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, said there is strong demand for new homes in the area.
"The greatest challenge we have today is lack of inventory," he said. "When a new property is listed, if it's market value, it's being sold within the first 30 days of listing."
Mr. Foley said cranberry bogs can be an appealing feature for Redbrook. In the summer season, cranberry farms are blanketed in white flowers that look like snow. Those flowers turn to red berries in the early fall as the harvest season approaches, when the bogs are flooded—an image made famous by Ocean Spray commercials.
If a property is on a cranberry bog, I would say it would certainly be a value-add," Mr. Foley said.
