Prescott Estates Revisited: A complex transformation

Ten years ago, there was no disputing which was the worst neighborhood in Modesto.

It was Prescott Estates -- a complex of 312 condo units plagued by drugs, gangs, fires, trash piles, rodent infestations, leaking roofs and worse.

The conditions were so bad that police officers routinely called for backup before even driving into the neighborhood. Building inspectors needed police escorts, and pizza parlors wouldn't deliver there.

A teacher at a nearby school remembers that children from Prescott Estates often struggled in class -- because they'd been awake through the night due to gunshots.

Over a matter of months, after pleas from residents of the complex and nearby houses and a mandate from a court-ordered receiver, the city took the unprecedented action of condemning the entire place.

Today, Whispering Woods, as the complex now is called, still has 78 four-plexes, each divided into four two-bedroom, one-bath units.

But almost everything else is different, from the carports that have become enclosed garages to the attractive community pool. Most striking are the green lawns and absence of graffiti.

In short, it's "Extreme Makeover" on a massive scale.

The transformation is summed up by Richard Huber, who was appointed by the courts to deal with the slum's many problems.

"When I used to go in there, it was usually with a police officer with me," Huber recalled.

How bad was it? Huber didn't even take his Rottweilers with him because there were so many needles on the ground.

"Today," Huber said, "I would put my mother in there."

The turnaround of Prescott Estates is worth recognizing -- and celebrating. It offers hope to neighborhoods with rundown and/or abandoned houses, and it offers lessons for the for the community as a whole.

Factors in the decline

Prescott Estates represented an innovative architectural design, intended to provide an opportunity for people of modest incomes to be able to afford to buy a home.

But instead of owning just the air space inside and having the homeowner organization or another group responsible for the structure and outside areas -- as is typical with most condominiums -- the buyers of these condos were also responsible for one quarter of their building.

And that caused problems.

If a fire or plumbing leak ouccurred in one unit, it often damaged one or more adjoining units, displacing several families.

And if one owner didn't or wouldn't repair his unit, the adjoining units deteriorated, sometimes to the point of being uninhabitable.

Fortunately, these types of condo developments are no longer allowed.

But several of the other problems that plagued Prescott Estates are still common elsewhere today:

Landlords only interested in cash flow, not in reinvesting money to maintain their property.

Weak oversight by the homeowners association and/or professional management firm.

People buying units they could not afford.

As early as 1975, there were abandoned units and an unsuccessful effort to turn Prescott Estates around. By the 1980s, it was peppered with crime problems. And by the late 1990s, it appeared beyond repair.

Huber remembers driving through adjoining subdivisions. They were pleasant. He thought Prescott Estates should be saved, not razed.

Factors in the turnaround

By 2000, Prescott Estates was in such dismal shape that small changes were meaningless. The court gave Huber sweeping authority to take action. As he and others involved at the time reflect, there were several key components in turning Prescott Estates around: