Land formerly used to raise crops for animals at the ISU Dairy Teaching Farm has been put up for sale by the ISU Foundation.

The 53.24 acres of land lies near another parcel of ISU land recently sold to the Ames Community School district for the site of the new Ames Middle School.

Due to the dairy farm’s closing in mid-October, ISU officials deemed the land unnecessary for Iowa State to own.

The land, located between Mortensen Road and U.S. Highway 30, is being sold through Hertz Real Estate Services through sealed bids to private bidders. All bids for the land are due by noon Dec. 31.

Officials said the sale of the land has been planned, in part, since the 1996 land management plan developed by Iowa State, and was subsequently approved by the Board of Regents.

The ISU Foundation’s decision to sell the land had come from a request made by his office and the College of Agriculture, said Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance.

“Iowa State has indicated to the ISU Foundation that this particular tract of land is no longer needed and we recommended they proceed to sell the property,” Madden said in a press release.

Both Madden and Ann Wilson, communications director for the ISU Foundation, declined to reveal the estimated land value. Wilson said this was due to concerns that openly announcing a price would interfere with the sealed bidding.

“We’re not putting any estimate on it because we don’t want to hamper the process,” she said.

Money from the sale of the land will go back into the ISU Foundation and be used to fund the organization’s projects, including working with private donors, Wilson said.

Tim Fevold of Hertz Real Estate Services said the land is “of good quality for the area [and] for agricultural purposes.”

However, the land is unlikely to be used in the same manner as before, he said.

“We don’t anticipate that it’ll be used for ag purposes,” Fevold said.

“We anticipate that it’ll be used for residential purposes.”

The ISU Foundation bought the land in 1965. Since then, Iowa State has leased the area for use by its agriculture program. In 1996, the decision was made to sell the land in the immediate future.

Madden said the sale was “consistent with the city’s plan to move Ames west,” and indicated he expected the land to be “very attractive to developers.”