The changes would be especially helpful to homebuyers in high-cost areas such as the Napa, Sonoma, Marin and other bay area counties.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, the median single-family home sold for $521,441 in Sonoma County, $604,500 in Napa and more than $1 million in Marin, well above government loan limits. Buyers typically make up the difference through privately backed, second mortgages, but those “non-conforming” loans have become more expensive and difficult to obtain because of recent trouble in the mortgage markets.

Those financing troubles have hurt home sales. In Sonoma County, sales of homes between $450,000 and $600,000 – most of them needing non-conforming loans – dropped 61 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with the same quarter of 2006. Sales of homes between $300,000 and $450,000 – most of them fundable with conforming loans – dropped less than 2 percent.

Source: North Bay Business Journal

The Napa Valley property occupied by Del Dotto Vineyards and several non-wine-industry tenants is on the market for $34 million.

The 12-acre Napa property is leased to Del Dotto and several other tenants.  A 50-unit hotel could be built on the site with appropriate regulatory approvals. Making this property one of the most high profile commercial real estate offerings in Napa Valley.

Del Dotto, a small family-owned vineyard and winery known for its high-end wines and aficionado-friendly barrel-tasting tours of the manmade wine caves at its 1055 Atlas Peak Road site, has constructed an estimated $10 million new winery and caves in St. Helena. It plans to consolidate operations there when its lease runs out at the Atlas Peak Road property. A Del Dotto employee said the lease there still has more than a year to run.

Winery owner Dave Del Dotto and other family members were unavailable for comment.

A recent article on Appellationamerica.com said Del Dotto produces about 8,000 cases annually, but expects to expand that total to about 12,000 cases.

The Atlas Peak Road site, adjacent to the Silverado Country Club and Resort, includes a historic ivy-covered winery (known as the Hedgeside Distillery Building), wine-storage caves excavated more than a century ago, five acres of vineyards, a tasting room, an art gallery building, a 3,500-square-foot estate home built in the 1800s and several other structures.

For additional information on this property please contact Ken Dunbar 707-365-9070 or Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779

If a slow growth initiative passes in June, at least three developers with projects on the outskirts of American Canyon and Napa will likely gain in the long run.

Proponents of the Responsible Growth Initiative say they want to curb residential growth in the unincorporated part of the county, particularly the proposed 3,200 townhomes at the former Napa Pipe property. But with more strict controls on county growth, the measure would create more pressure for large residential developments within the two largest cities in Napa County, Napa and American Canyon.

Based on a review of current development and zoning proposals, it appears three properties would become the likeliest to help satisfy state and regional requirements for market-rate and affordable housing.

• One, the 110-acre Ghisletta property near Foster Road in south Napa, is tentatively zoned to have as many as 1,000 dwellings, plus a 31-acre corporate park. The property is within the city of Napa’s Rural-Urban Limit line, but has not been annexed to the city. City leaders and the property owners are seeking to get the property annexed this year.

• Another, the 70-acre Edward Biggs property on the east side of Newell Drive in American Canyon, is slated by its Solano County owner for residential development. Lot lines on this property, part of which was previously owned by the Ghisletta family and others, were redrawn in 2007 so that it could better accommodate single-family homes. The land is just outside the city of American Canyon. The city is currently reconsidering the boundaries of its Rural-Urban Limit line.

• The third, the McGrath development, is just east of American Canyon’s city limit. About 500 homes and 150,000 square feet of commercial space are proposed for this 100-acre property. It is the site of a former cement factory, now owned by the Jaeger family.

The initiative would almost certainly spell the doom of the 152-acre 3,200-home Napa Pipe proposal. In addition to the likelihood that such a large project would exceed the county’s annual growth cap, a provision in the Responsible Growth Initiative calls for strict enforcement of a 35-foot height limit on buildings, far shorter than the seven-story townhomes proposed for Napa Pipe.

As a result, the measure would benefit other developers who plan fewer homes, or who might see their properties brought within the cities of Napa or American Canyon — where county growth restrictions don’t apply.

James Marshall, the Napa attorney who is the spokesman for the Responsible Growth Initiative, said he had no intention of making developers’ lives easier.

“I don’t know any of those people,” he said. “I know nothing about it, I obviously could not have had that in my mind when I started this initiative. There’s no doubt it will have an impact on property owners. There’s going to be some people who don’t benefit from this initiative and some people that benefit in some peculiar way. But what I’m looking at is the benefit of all Napa County residents.”

Source: Napa Valley Register