HADLEY — A former farmstand and ice cream shop at 10 Rocky Hill Road, closed for most of the past 33 years, and the 1.4 acres of land on which the vacant 2,445-square foot building sits, are heading to a foreclosure auction in January.

Aaron Posnik & Co, Inc., of West Springfield is handling the on-site public auction, set for Jan. 23 at 11 a.m., on behalf of attorney Jonathan R. Goldsmith of Goldsmith, Katz & Argenio, P.C. of Springfield. Goldsmith is the attorney for Farm Credit East, ACA, which holds the $248,585 mortgage for the property and issued the foreclosure notice on Nov. 15.

Shannon M. Rice-Nichols and Kathleen M. Rice bought the property in April 2021 for $300,000, 18 months after Rice-Nichols first announced plans to reinvigorate the site on the heavily traveled road that serves as a main route between Interstate 91 and the University of Massachusetts campus. Those plans included having part of the building be home to The Farmer and The Cheese wholesale operation, with milk produced from Devon bulls and Kerry cows she owned. The remainder of the building was to be turned over to a business partner for creation of a breakfast and lunch spot.

But those plans never came to fruition and, in 2022, Rice-Nichols was charged with animal cruelty after nine cows and 22 goats were seized from an Amherst farm where she was keeping them. She is serving five years probation after pleading guilty in early 2024 to three counts in a 35-count indictment.

The building was built in 1983 by the Gnatek family and was last in business around 1991, though in summer 2022 Rice-Nichols leased the site to a woman who ran a farmstand known as The Divine Vine, or La Vina Divine. The building also has been on the real estate market.

Being in an agricultural-residential zone, commercial uses for the site are limited, said Planning Board Clerk William Dwyer. The agricultural exemption under state law, though, allows the operation of a farmstand and other similar enterprise, so long as 25 percent of products are produced on site or in Hadley. Dwyer said the other option for a new property owner is to build a single-family home, and possibly an accessory dwelling unit as allowed by right next March, and then run a home occupation from the location.

In fall 2023, when the property was initially on the market, an Amherst-based landscaping company sought information from planners about relocating to the site. The owners were informed, though, that since no residence exists on site, having the business considered a home occupation wouldn’t be possible.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.