URBANA – An auction to benefit the Charles W. Christie Foundation raised nearly a record price per acre for Champaign County farmland – but not quite.

Dr. Adolf Lo and his wife, Renee, successfully bid $32,000 an acre for 61.7 acres northwest of Champaign. The land is on the southeast corner of U.S. 150 and Duncan Road – directly south of the Rockwell Automation and Midwest Underground Technology plants and not far from the Interstate 57/Interstate 74 interchange.

That produced about $1,975,000 in proceeds for the Christie Foundation, which uses interest on investments to support medical scholarships for area students. Last year, the foundation awarded about $75,000 in scholarships to 77 students, said Gary Wackerlin, executive director of the foundation.

Gordon Hannagan of Hannagan Auction Co., which conducted the sale, said the record price paid at auction for Champaign County farmland was $32,500 for acreage near Windsor Road and Mattis Avenue in Champaign. The winners in that auction, held a few years ago, were also the Los, he said.

Friday's auction, held at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center in Urbana, lasted less than a half-hour and attracted about 50 people. Hannagan said four parties took part in the bidding, with Harry Querry of Urbana and Carol Seggebruch of Morris in for the early bidding and Jim Goss of The Atkins Group and the Los involved until the end.

Bidding started in the $10,000 range and worked its way up to $16,750 – at which point Gordon Hannagan interrupted his auctioneer son, Jim, to remind bidders they weren't just buying, they were investing. Hannagan told the audience he thought the bidding might reach the mid-$30,000s.

Once bids hit $20,000, the action escalated, with bids going up $1,000 a pop. At $30,000, a brief recess was called, but shortly after bidding resumed, it ended, with everyone but the Los out.

Renee Lo declined comment on the purchase, but Seggebruch, who exited the bidding at $17,000 an acre, said she took part because she liked the land's potential for development.

"The property is probably well worth what it sold for, but everyone has limits," Seggebruch said. Despite losing the bidding, Seggebruch made a donation to the Christie Foundation afterward.

Dale Aupperle, president of Forsyth-based Heartland Ag Group Ltd., which promoted the auction, said he was pleased with the outcome.

"The sale exceeded our expectations and showed a bright future for commercial and industrial development in Champaign," Aupperle said. "The magic of today's sale is the development coming in Champaign in future years. ... The buyers clearly understand the value of location."

The land, zoned for light industrial and general commercial use, was donated to the Christie Foundation through the estate of Cecilia W. Rapp. The donation was made in honor of her son, Richard L. Rapp, a longtime pharmacist at Christie Clinic. Altogether, the Rapp estate provided 194 acres to the foundation, with only 61 of the acres auctioned off.

Bob Lakey, who has farmed the ground for the foundation with his son, Jason, the last five years, said they'll continue to farm land the foundation still owns.

"It went higher than I thought it would go," Lakey said of the bidding, noting that not many parcels that size become available that close to the city. "There's definitely good value out there."

Christie Foundation scholarships are open to students in a wide array of health care careers, Wackerlin said. Scholarships are not restricted to a particular school. Once students receive a scholarship, they remain eligible for renewal as long as they continue health care studies full-time.