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Will historic home be history?

Posted: Tuesday, Feb 16th, 2010
BY: JON CHOWN

The Redman House on Lee Road sits in the sun Thursday. Its future is in question.

(Photo by Tarmo Hannula)

In a room above Dean Coley’s massive mill shop on Lee Road, the Redman-Hirahara Foundation still continues to meet.

With notes on business plans and fundraising efforts filling a white board, and historical photos and conceptual drawings decorating the walls, the group of local residents is still holding out hope that something positive will come of the historic Redman House that slowly crumbles away on the same street.

The foundation had owned the home until September, when it lost it to foreclosure. Now, without access to the site, the group continues to toil, working on plans and waiting for what will come next, though it doesn’t know what or when that will be.

“We haven’t given up today, we haven’t given up at all,” treasurer Barbara Powell said. “Bankruptcy was a conscious decision. There is still a house that’s historic that we’re dedicated to.”

For the complete article see the 02-16-2010 issue of the Register-pajaronian.

Foreclosure of historic Pajaro Valley home halts preservation plans

By DONNA JONES
Posted: 10/01/2009 01:30:44 AM PDT
WATSONVILLE -- A more than decade-old dream of restoring a historic Pajaro Valley home and turning the property into an agricultural showcase is fading now that project backers have lost control of the Redman-Hirahara House through foreclosure.

Though the Redman-Hirahara Foundation vows to fight on to preserve the ramshackle Queen Anne mansion that sits near Highway 1, its future is unclear.

"We spent 12 years trying to make this thing happen for this county, one of the best things we could do to show off the agriculture of this area," said Geoff Scurfield, foundation chairman. "We just couldn't raise enough money."

The foundation tried to stave off foreclosure by filing for bankruptcy in March and negotiating with the mortgage holders and sellers, GreenFarm LP, a Santa Cruz-based real estate development company operated by partners Richard Kelley and Owen Lawlor. But GreenFarm rejected two offers of $700,000, and in September a bankruptcy judge lifted a stay on foreclosure.

Scurfield said with the $100,000 paid in interest and the $200,000 down payment, the total offer was more like $1 million.

"I still feel deep in my heart that Rich Kelley will come to his senses," Scurfield said.

Scurfield said the fundraising was much more difficult than foundation leaders had anticipated, in part because of the mortgage.

"People looked at this and said, You guys bit off more than you can chew,'" he said.

Some think the problem was that the $1.9 million purchase price in 2005 was too high.

"That land never had the value they paid for it," said Bill Ringe, a real estate agent with strong ties to the agricultural community.

Ringe said top Pajaro Valley farmland goes for $50,000 an acre, which would make the property worth about $700,000. The problem, he said, is that the foundation paid for development rights on a property that may never be developed.

Santa Cruz County officials have resisted attempts to develop Pajaro Valley land west of Highway 1, and the property would have to be rezoned from commercial agriculture. Supervisor Ellen Pirie said chances of that are slim.

"I certainly wouldn't hold my breath," Pirie said.

GreenFarm partner and land-use consultant Lawlor said there are no plans to develop the property, though he pointed to its "unique characteristics."


The 14-acre site on Highway 1 just north of the Riverside Drive exit abuts a Chevron station. A closed aluminum extrusion plant sits across Lee Road and its neighbors across Beach Road include a frozen food packer, a cold storage facility and a hotel.

"There's lots of good agricultural land that needs to be protected, but very little land with freeway frontage by Watsonville," Lawlor said, adding the community should decide the best use for the property.

"I've always wanted to save the house," Lawlor said. "We wanted the Redman Foundation to proceed. ... It just didn't work out."

Paying GreenFarm the $1.5 million it was owed was the start of the foundation's financial problems. The purchase price also included assuming a $200,000 note on the property, which is unpaid. The foundation also borrowed $200,000 for the down payment, again unpaid.

In addition, Fresno House Movers, which jacked up the house in preparation for a new foundation, is owed $65,000 and has a lien on the property. The house sits on blocks, equipment owned by the house moving company.

Then there's the $68,000 in back taxes.

The foundation's only steady stream of income came from a lease to High Ground Organics, which farms the land.

High Ground Organics owner Stephen Pedersen could not be reached to comment Wednesday, but Lawlor said GreenFarm wants him to continue farming there "until we can figure out our next step."

The Redman-Hirahara House is named for the sugar beet grower who had the home built from a design by architect William Weeks in 1897 and for the Japanese immigrant family that bought it in the 1930s. The Japanese ties are especially important, said local historian Sandy Lydon. The Hiraharas were a working-class family. They were interned during World War II, but returned afterward and helped other Japanese internees get back on their feet. Though the family sold the property in the mid-1980s to GreenFarm, a life tenancy clause kept the matriarch in the house until it was red-tagged due to damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Lydon said it would be impossible to find a house better situated to serve as an icon for the region's ethnic and agricultural history. Years before the house was built, Chinese immigrants drained the land, transforming swamps into agricultural fields. Italian and Croatian immigrants grew crops nearby.

Lydon said he's optimistic the community will find a way to save the house.
"Even if people driving by don't look at it, it sneaks into your vision. It has a way of being imprinted onto your consciousness," he said. "It could be a beacon for really telling the story of the Pajaro Valley."

Historic home in foreclosure

BY: JON CHOWN

The historic Redman-Hirahara property on Lee Road in Watsonville is in foreclosure. (Photos by Tarmo Hannula)

Time appears to be running short for the Redman-Hirahara Foundation as a stay of foreclosure has been lifted on the Redman-Hirahara House and surrounding property. The future of the historic structure is hard to guess, though, as legal strings tie the owner, GreenFarm LP, from developing it and the foundation still hopes to somehow get it back and finish its ambitious project.

On Monday, Owen Lawlor, a land-use consultant for GreenFarm, confirmed the foreclosure process had advanced through the court system. The Redman-Hirahara Foundation purchased the home in 2004 for $1.9 million. Of that, $1.5 million was owed to GreenFarm LP. The rest was split between Mark Fredrickson, who owned Sterling Pacific Financial in Watsonville and loaned the foundation $200,000, and Bill and Lupe Burgstrom, who hold a $200,000 note on the property that was assumed by the foundation. The foundation still basically owes all the money, having been forced to spend the bulk of what it raised over the years on interest payments.

“We’re really kind of heartbroken to go through this process,” Lawlor said. “We tried to work it out with the foundation and figure out how it could work. But it became clear it wasn’t going to.”

•••

Historic home’s future

Lawlor said GreenFarm’s plan for the property is still being considered. The home has been listed as a historic structure and cannot be torn down. The land, which is outside Watsonville city limits and west of Highway 1, will be difficult to develop. County of Santa Cruz principal planner Mark Deming said two months ago that he didn’t believe commercial development at the site would ever be allowed. It would take approval from not the only county, but also from the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission and the California Coastal Commission.

“And I don’t see that happening,” he said.

Lawlor said he hoped officials would look at the site with an open mind.

“I think this is a new world and I think everything should be on the table. Given the economics the city and county are facing, we just want political players to look at the site with fresh eyes,” he said. “I understand the county recently appoved a major remodel of the gas station on Lee Road, so things that might have seemed impossible years ago, maybe aren’t so impossible. ... The current plan, to do something creative with the site, has not worked and we need to look at other solutions. And whatever that solution is, it has to be consistent with the desires of the community.”

Barbara Powell, secretary-treasurer of the Redman Foundation, said her group has not given up on its plan to turn the site into an educational and cultural center that would highlight what the Pajaro Valley has to offer to the millions of people who drive by on Highway 1 every year.

“The foreclosure of the property is just another unfortunate setback we have experienced on this project over the past 10 years,” she said.

•••

Missed opportunities

Powell said the biggest setback was Measure U not including the Redman-Hirahara House in the plans for future annexation into Watsonville. If the property were to become part of Watsonville, it would become eligible for redevelopment funds from the city, and Powell felt that Watsonville city leaders had a better understanding of the project’s potential and how it could benefit Watsonville than county officials did.

“We could have been annexed and could have overcome the county’s complete lack of interest in developing the project,” she said.

Lawlor also said it was unfortunate the property was not included for annexation.

“Personally, I do think that was an oversight, but I won’t second-guess anybody,” he said.

And, looking further back, Powell said the project may have been doomed from the time the foundation purchased the property. The foundation contends that the purchase price, $1.9 million, was far too high because the appraisal used during the sale counted on the land being rezoned to commercial use, which appears unlikely to happen. If appraised as just agricultural land, the value would be closer to $1 million or possibly less.

Powell said two different parties, one of which was Fredrickson, have offered GreenFarm $700,000 for the property, but both offers were rejected by the firm.

Powell said the debt that the purchase placed on the foundation became too much of a weight. The foundation couldn’t raise enough money to pay off the loan, make headway on the mortgage and show enough progress on the restoration effort to keep the community interested in its progress. The foundation tried to get Proposition 40 funds — money earmarked for restoration of California’s historic buildings — but was turned down twice and its mortgage debt was listed as the reason.

“All the obstacles thrown down in front of us made it really difficult,” Powell said. “Our outlook is that the foreclosure puts the physical restoration of the Redman House in a holding pattern until another buyer purchases the property from GreenFarm and agrees to lease the unfarmable four acres back to the Redman-Hirahara Foundation. We do not plan to liquidate or close down our organization. There are historical projects in progress by Sandy Lydon and other background research and planning that will continue.”

Lydon is heading up a project to research the Japanese history of the house. The Hiraharas were forced to leave the house when Japanese-Americans and Japanese living in California were sent to internment camps after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. But the house was kept safe and when the Hiraharas returned, the house and barn were used to house other Japanese-Americans left homeless by the ordeal.

“We are grateful to the people who have supported this project over the years and hope they will remember each time they pass the Redman House that the dream lives on,” Powell said.

•••

Unresolved issues

Beyond the future of the project, there are other issues with the property.

Steve Pederson and Jeanne Byrne, owners of High Ground Organics, have been farming the land surrounding the house for several years and operate a produce stand at the edge of the property. Pederson had a lease with the Redman Foundation, but now its future is uncertain.

“For the time being, Steve Pederson is there and we don’t see any reason he shouldn’t continue, at least for a little while,” Lawlor said.

Pederson said that GreenFarm had indicated Monday it wanted to extend the lease for a year and possibly more.

“But it sounds like they have hit some sort of hitch regarding a potential lien on the house,” he said.

The lien is the result of a more complicated issue — the cribbing holding the house up. Ron Campbell of Fresno House Movers escavated the earth under the house and placed the supports there. He had been leasing the equipment, worth about $40,000, to the Redman Foundation and had already placed a lien on the house for the $65,000 the foundation owed him. Now, he is in court trying to have that lien transferred to GreenFarm.

“We’re asking the court to recognize a couple of things, but primarily that my equipment is essential to the house and removing it would destroy it,” he said. “I can’t leave my equipment there and I can’t take it out. I’m between a rock and a hard spot.”

Campbell said he had no ill feelings toward the Redman-Hirahara Foundation members, but felt they paid too much for the home and wished GreenFarm would look at reasonable offers to sell.

Lawlor said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit, but said GreenFarm is working with local officials on a solution.

“Unfortunately, the foundation left a lot of debt — not only to us. So we’re just trying to sort it out,” Lawlor said. “We’re open to hearing from people in the community on what their thoughts are. We’re working with elected officials and I still think there is an opportunity to find a solution.”

Redman House Foundation files for bankruptcy

Foundation files for bankruptcy
Posted: Thursday, Mar 12th, 2009
BY: JON CHOWN


Dean Coley talks about the Redman-Hirahara Foundation filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday in front of the Redman House on Lee Road at West Beach Street.

Rich Kelley and GreenFarm LP have filed for foreclosure on the Redman House, and the Redman-Hirahara Foundation — which bought the historic home on Lee Road — filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday in an effort to negotiate a new lease.

The Redman-Hirahara Foundation is dedicated to the restoration of the Redman House, an 1897 Queen Anne Victorian designed by famed architect William Weeks. The group wants to save the house and turn the property into a visitors’ center and cultural education center that will attract some of the estimated 18 million cars that pass by on Highway 1 and turn that traffic toward local businesses.

“The house sits at a key gateway. For motorists coming north into Santa Cruz County, it’s the first building you see off the highway. If you are heading south, it’s the last building you see before entering Monterey County,” Redman-Hirahara Foundation board member Dean Coley said. “The potential here is enormous.”

The group says the house is still architecturally sound, the plans for the project are very developed and the permit process is well under way.

“You can’t find a more shovel-ready project than this, and it would give an immediate and permanent boost to the local economy,” board president Geoff Scurfield said.

The group said the bankruptcy was part of a strategy to hold onto the property as it tries to renegotiate the mortgage. The foundation is attempting to strike a deal with Kelley to save the house, which members say has unique historical and cultural value.

Neither Kelley nor his attorney Richard Allen returned calls seeking comment.

Foundation officials said a recent appraisal revealed a large discrepancy in the true market value of the property when the group purchased it for $1.9 million in 2005. The board — which has changed many members since that time — said the $1.9 million figure was based on the property’s potential to be commercially developed, but the reality is that commercial development would never be allowed at the site, which is zoned for agricultural use. As an agricultural site, the foundation says the property should have been appraised at $945,000. Now, officials say they must renegotiate the loan fairly.

The foundation has enlisted some very visible and vocal allies. Developer George Ow has been advising the group, and philanthropist Rowland Rebele has offered financial support and has been doing more recruiting. Ow said he doesn’t believe the property will ever be allowed to be developed for commercial use. Currently, Redman-Hirahara Foundation board member and High Ground Organics owner Stephen Pederson is leasing the land surrounding the house for agricultural use.

Sandy Lydon, historian emeritus of Cabrillo College and the foremost authority on local history, is also on board with the project.

“The group is going to work its way through this, just like the Hiraharas did,” Lydon said. “This house has a story we want to tell and we feel this story is critical.”

Lydon has been a strong supporter of saving the house for the past decade and is working on documenting its history.

The Hirahara family owned the home when World War II started, but was forced to relocate to an internment camp, along with all Japanese-Americans and Japanese nationals in California, after Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. While interned, members of the Watsonville community stepped forward to save the home for the Hiraharas. The home was used after the war as a hostel for Japanese-Americans left homeless by the internment. The house has not had any residents since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, when the last Hirahara family member was forced to move out.

“We’re looking for the community to step forward again,” board member Barbara Powell said.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

*Photo by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 3/12/09 edition)

A house that was once was a home

BY: JON CHOWN

Santa Cruz artist Michael Leeds crafted his vehicle (at left) from a 1941 Seagrave hook and ladder fire truck. At right is Watsonville car collector and author Jack Passey’s 1933 Lincoln. The two vehicles were part of a small collection of classic cars on display at the Apple Annual Sunday at the Redman-Hirahara farmstead on Lee Road.

Many notable people were strolling the lawn of the Redman-Hirahara House on Sunday at the Apple Annual, a wine glass in one hand and the other used to articulate a point. Sitting on the sidestep of his 1933 Lincoln, author and car collector Jack Passey of Watsonville talked about his passion with Santa Cruz artist Michael Leeds, who is known for transforming old “junk” into futuristic designs.

Leeds drove his one-of-a-kind invention to the party, a 12-cylinder purple beast that used to be a 1941 Seagrave hook and ladder firetruck. Leeds had been working on the car for 37 years.

“It’s a vehicle that is from yesterday, here today and for tomorrow,” he said.

The same could be said of the vision for the Redman-Hirahara House. The people behind the restoration effort see the home and surrounding farmstead as a vehicle from the past, here today and for the future — a vehicle to promote the region and what is has to offer the millions of people driving by each day.

“That is what we are here for today,” said Geoff Scurfield, board president of the Redman Foundation. “This house has a lot to offer this community.”

The Apple Annual, Watsonville’s first in nearly a century, was a fundraiser to finish the foundation for the house, which was lifted more than a year ago. Perched above the crowd, two sisters looked up at it, remembering when they lived inside its walls.

“We were a family of 13, so the kids spent a lot of time playing outside,” said Eiko Nishihara, 82, who still lives in Watsonville. Eiko and her sister Yoshiko Nishihara, 81, were part of the Hirahara family that owned the home and were forced to leave it during World War II when all Americans of Japanese descent were ordered detained and forced into prison camps further east. The Hiraharas were moved to Arkansas.

The two girls spent their years in high school in one camp or another while in Arkansas before finally returning to Watsonville around 1948.

“My father and brother went home first to make sure it was safe,” said Yoshiko.

In 1950, the two women married brothers and moved out of the house. The years after the war were not easy for the Hiraharas. Local merchants would not sell them gas for their tractor and the sisters’ brother Fumio had to go to Monterey for it. Local outlets for their produce were also cut off, but distributors from Los Angeles welcomed the bounty of the Pajaro Valley.

“We had other Japanese families living here and working on the farm,” Eiko said. “And we sold a lot of vegetables in L.A.”

Aki Hane, 72, was a member of one of those families. He was 8 or 9 and lived with his family in one of the dormitories that had been created in the barn.

“It wasn’t the best accommodations,” said Hane. “There were quite a few families in there. We had a whole community of Japanese people here with nowhere else to go — no money. Those were hard days.”

Hane remembers playing outside and working on the farm for a couple of years after returning to Watsonville. Ping-Pong was the most popular pastime for the kids and the table was near the front of the house.

“The house had gorgeous stained-glass windows and the front door was very ornate with a lot of cut stained-glass. The banister was beautiful,” Hane said.

“I am glad that they are going to restore it,” Yoshiko said. “There’s a lot of things missing.”

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

*Photos by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 10/13/08 edition)

Apple Annual blossoms Sunday

BY: TODD GUILD

A variety of apples thrive at the Redman House on Lee Road at West Beach Street where an Apple Annual fundraiser will take place Sunday.

As the season slides slowly into autumn, the green trees are yielding to yellows and reds, while fallen leaves crunch underfoot. The sun, which has a little more trouble breaking free of the misty mornings, gives way more easily every day to cool, crisp evenings.

For many, the autumn weather is a perfect backdrop for the harvest festivals that usher in the winter.

One such festival is the Apple Annual, which for years was a Watsonville tradition, and a salute to a time when when the fruit dominated Pajaro Valley’s agricultural scene and the area boasted more than a million trees on 14,000 acres.

The event, which will take place Sunday, will feature food and beverages from several local providers, including S. Martinelli & Co., Monterey Bay Catering and Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria. The apples will be provided by Watsonville farms.

The Pajaro Valley Historical Association will have a table set up with Apple Annual memorabilia. Additionally, several items donated from Santa Cruz County businesses will be auctioned.

So far, organizers have sold 50 tickets, and expect about 150 people will attend the event.

“A big part of our vision is to provide a community-based venue,” said Barbara Powell, director of the Redman-Hirahara Foundation.

Powell added that the celebration has room for 300 attendees.

The festival, which was launched in 1910 by the Board of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce, honored Pajaro Valley’s apple growers. Organizers hoped to bring in $100,000 annually.

The success of the first festival exceeded expectations, with 40,000 people coming from all over the country, but after three successful years, the Apple Annual moved to San Francisco. It eventually faded away when World War I began.

The idea to bring back the Apple Annual was launched when historians learned that the owner of the Redman House — a Victorian-style manor sitting at the corner of West Beach Street and Lee Road — was involved in the early Pajaro Valley apple industry.

The celebration will be held at the Redman property, although ongoing restoration of the house will at first hinder a larger celebration.

Organizers hope to quickly finish the house and expand the property to eventually produce a family-friendly festival.

•••

The Apple Annual will be held Sunday from 2-5 p.m. at the Redman House. For information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.redmanhouse.com. Tickets may be purchased on the day of the event.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

*Photos by Tarmo Hannula, program cover courtesy of the Pajaro Valley Historical Association*

(Published in 10/10/08 edition)