Modesto selling McClure homestead

Have you heard about the city’s plan to turn McClure Country Place – a roughly 22-acre spread with a Victorian farmhouse and outbuildings near Creekside Golf Course – into a living history museum to celebrate Modesto’s farming heritage?

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t. Though the city bought the property about 40 years ago, its plans for the site never took root. Now the city is selling roughly 16 of the acres as well as the 1881 two-story farmhouse and several outbuildings.

But there is at least one person who knew about the plans and is not pleased with the city’s decision: Modesto resident Alison Peltier, whose parents, Lawrence and Ida McClure, sold the property to the city. She said her parents did that with the understanding the city would turn it into a museum.

“That was their vision and the purpose of the sale,” Peltier said. “It saddens me and disgusts me that they did nothing with it. They’ve held on to it for eons and have done nothing with it.”

The City Council last week declared the property surplus and authorized staff members to sell it. The proceeds will be used on city parks and other recreational facilities. A city report states there are no restrictions on the city to sell the property. City officials have talked in recent years about selling it.

The report also states that the city could not turn the site into a museum because it did not have the money. The report cites a 1990 study that estimated construction and renovation costs at more than $600,000, and those costs have increased over the years. Additionally, the report states that in recent years the city has performed minimal maintenance because of budget cuts.

“It would have been in the best interests of the community, and we would have loved for this project to come to fruition,” Modesto spokeswoman Amy Vickery said. “But regrettably, the grant funding was not there; the recession hit, and now we are trying to maintain our parks and other recreational amenities with limited funding.

“We are disappointed we could not make this happen, but sometimes tough decisions have to be made in tough economic times.”

Peltier said if funding were the issue, the city should have rallied the community behind the project. As an example, she cited a 1997 Community Hospice fundraiser at the McClure property in which decorators, designers, Modesto Garden Club members and others transformed the farmhouse and its garden.

The McClure property is off the beaten path. The roughly 22 acres of open space dotted with trees stretch along the south side of Dry Creek between McClure and Claus roads. Trees obscure the 1881 farmhouse built by the Hogin family. The McClures acquired the property in the early 1900s. The property had been a farm and a dairy over the years.

Vickery said the City Council designated the property as a historical landmark in 1991. Wayne Mathes, the city’s cultural services manager, said a property owner can ask the city to remove that designation.

The city had caretakers live in the farmhouse over the years. Those tenants included a city official and his family, who lived there from 1992 to 2001. They paid less than $300 a month in rent, but they maintained the extensive grounds. The farmhouse now is vacant and for more than a decade has been surrounded by an 8-foot-chain-link fence, topped with razor wire to keep out vandals and vagrants.

Modesto has had the property appraised but declined to release the results. State law allows local governments to withhold appraisals until a property has been sold. While it’s selling roughly 16 acres, it’s keeping about 6 acres near McClure Road for Dry Creek Regional Park and roughly one-third acre near Claus Road for a well.

Commercial broker Brian Velthoen with PMZ Real Estate estimated the 16 acres could be worth $35,000 to $40,000 an acre as undeveloped land. That could make it worth as much as $640,000. He said the land might be worth two to three times that if a developer were to build houses.

It would take some effort to develop the land.

Modesto Planning Manager Patrick Kelly said the land is listed as open space in the city’s general plan, its blueprint for growth and development, but is zoned for housing. He said the zoning could allow as many as about 60 homes. But before that could happen, the City Council would have to amend the general plan to allow for development. The property also has limited access via McClure Road.

As part of selling the land, the city will contact adjacent property owners to see if they are interested. Those property owners include Mary C. Gallo, who owns a ranch north of the property. She did not return phone calls seeking comment. If adjacent property owners are not interested, the city would use a real estate firm to market and sell the property.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Modesto selling McClure homestead."