Modesto driving range and golf center site, vacant for 3 years, becomes something new
A place that for more than a decade was home to countless drives will now welcome the opposite.
A new business has opened in the former golf practice and driving range on Modesto’s north McHenry Avenue. The Nor Cal Performance Golf Center closed abruptly in November of 2019. Since then, the approximately 20-acre plot has been empty.
A new owner has leased the facility and this week opened it as Park Place RV Storage. The motor home, boat and other recreational vehicle parking place will have some 650 spaces available.
The plan has been in the works since last August, when owner Dan Meade took over the location. The retired U.S. Postal Service employee, who last worked as the Hudson Station manager on Sylvan Avenue, said the idea for the business came from his own frustrations with finding parking for his RV.
“I kept driving by it and thinking this would make a great place to park some RVs,” said Meade, who used to golf at the facility before it closed. “At the time, I was paying for a 45-foot space for my 25-foot RV. And I thought, these (fees) ought to be size-related.”
So the new storage facility offers three different size parking spaces. Rentals at Park Place go from a 25-foot space for $65 a month, a 35-foot space for $75 and a 45-foot space for $85.
Meade said people can park whatever kind of recreational vehicle or craft they want in their space, “as long as it fits.” But the facility isn’t zoned for diesel-powered vehicles or semi-trucks, so those are not allowed.
Like many, Meade has been part of the pandemic RV boom. The COVID-19 crisis caused many to rethink their vacation options and sent camper sales and usage soaring across the country.
A report from the RV Industry Association showed a 40% increase in RV production from 2020 to 2021. In the second quarter of 2022, which ended in February, Winnebago Industries reported a 39% growth in revenue from the past year.
In short, a lot more people are RVing these days and Meade hopes to take advantage of the trend with his new business. Meade bought his own motor home right before the pandemic hit. He said.
“A lot of people are buying RVs and a lot of people are selling them, and whoever gets them will need a place to put them,” he said. “We just want to provide a safe, convenient location.”
Meade is currently using about 12 of the lot’s roughly 20 acres for parking. The former pro shop is now the storage facility office. The grounds could be expanded to fit another 200 or so vehicles if needed.
Park Place offers a fully enclosed facility with high-definition security cameras and license plate readers. The facility’s entrance gate requires a code to enter and exit. And Meade soon will install motion-detecting lights.
He credits CoSol’s Tom Solomon, who handled the leasing arrangement, with helping get his business up and running. He plans to be in it for the long haul, after signing a 15-year lease on the land. Meade said while it was sad to have to grade over some of the golf features, he’s happy to be able to bring business back to the location after almost three years sitting vacant.
The Nor Cal Performance Golf Center, at the corner of McHenry and Claribel Road, was Modesto’s only dedicated golf practice facility before it closed in early November 2019. The golf center had some 75 driving range stalls, as well as three putting/chipping greens. Before its opening in 2016, the driving range operated for about a decade as the McHenry Golf Center.
“Right now, I see a lot of people with their motor homes or boats or jet skis parked on their front lawns,” Meade said, “and I wanted to provide an affordable place to get your yard and driveway back.” Meade, of course, gets to park his own RV there for free. It’s good to be boss.
Park Place RV Storage, at 5150 McHenry Ave., has office hours from 8 to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. For more information call 209-497-7587 or visit www.parkplacervstor.com.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
