Centennial farm in Weld County to sell at auction

WINDSOR – A 159.7-acre dryland farm in Weld County that has been in the same family for more than 120 years will be sold through a sealed-bid auction on Nov. 16.

The Heinricy family farm will likely become a development opportunity for the town of Windsor given its proximity to the town and the Centerra mixed-use development, according to Hayden Outdoors Real Estate, which is representing the sellers and expects multiple developers of single-family residential subdivisions to show an interest. Hayden Outdoors began accepting bids on Oct. 23.

The tract was first acquired by the Heinricy family in 1901. The family’s descendants who have decided to sell the land include brothers Stan, Gary and Artie Elmquist and Reta Heinricy.

The farm is located a half-mile north of U.S. 34 and east of County Line Road, also known as Weld County Road 13. The gently sloping land has loam soils and has historically been planted in wheat. The tract is leased by a tenant farmer and is half winter wheat and half fallow from last year.

A water pipeline owned by the city of Thornton runs north and south on the west end of the property, a transmission line runs east and west through the center of it, and the farm also has an oil and gas footprint although no mineral or water rights are being transferred with the sale.

Under requirements of the sealed-bid auction, interested parties must submit their best offering in writing to the Hayden Outdoors offices at 501 Main St. in Windsor, 80550, on or before 3 p.m. MST on Nov. 16. Bidders will be notified of the sellers’ decision on Nov. 17; the family could either accept the high bid then or invite bidders to an online auction.

John Herrity and Chase Hinson of Hayden Outdoors Real Estate represent the Heinricy family in the sale.

“Farm and crop ground auctions happen frequently, but for a family farm to sell for the first time in over 100 years is a true rarity,” said Herrity, the firm’s director of sales and auctions.

The owners are related to the Heinricy family that arrived in the Loveland area in 1875 and established a homestead west of what is now Boyd Lake. Henry Heinricy, who bought the homestead from his father, Carl, in 1887, built the Eureka irrigation ditch in what is now Rocky Mountain National Park that became the first trans-mountain irrigation ditch in Northern Colorado.

The Boyd Lake State Park visitor center sits on the site of the original Heinricy homestead.

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