Construction has begun on a 527-home development in eastern Modesto, by far the city’s largest project in the past decade.
The developer had estimated prices starting “in the high $400,000 range” when the Modesto City Council approved the plans Jan. 30. That figure and the upper limit are still being refined, the company, DR Horton Inc., said in an email Friday.
The project, called the Crossings, is located on 84 acres just west of the Amtrak station. Most of the site had mature almond trees, which were blown down and cut down earlier this month.
The homes could be too expensive for most Modesto residents, but advocates said they would indirectly alleviate the housing shortage. Many homes would be purchased by people who now live in apartments, freeing up rental units for others.
“This is a great project,” Councilman David Wright said just before the vote. “We just need more of these here in the city of Modesto.”
The first homes could be ready within a year
Horton plans to have the first homes ready by next summer, Vince McCarrie, a regional vice president, said in the email. The project will be done in phases over several years, but a detailed timeline was not available Friday.
The site is just north and east of Westurf Nursery and a Modesto Irrigation District substation. The main west access is at Claus Road and Merle Avenue, including a roundabout. Another roundabout will be at Briggsmore Avenue, just west of the train station. A 9-foot-high noise wall runs along the tracks, which also carry freight trains.
The Crossings housing concept is based on builder DR Horton.
Horton plans a park and about three miles of bike lanes, including one along Claus that is completely protected from motor vehicles. It will connect to a similar route that already runs south to Dry Creek Regional Park and west to downtown.
Horton, based in Arlington, Texas, is the nation’s largest homebuilder. It planned the Modesto project from its San Ramon facility.
“The Crossings is a master-planned community with a large central park, biking and walking trails and direct access to the regional Amtrak station,” McCarrie said.
The Crossings Housing Plan in East Modesto
Housing construction has virtually disappeared
A January report from city staff said that just 64 housing units had been built in Modesto since 2020. The previous decade saw 1,738. The period from 1980 to 2010 saw 28,642 homes built. The boom ended with the mortgage crisis of 2008, which left many families unable to make their monthly payments.
Population growth has slowed since the 1980s, but the area still has a housing shortage. The tight market pushed the median sales price in Stanislaus County to $458,250 in March, the California Association of Realtors reported. Only 28% of households could afford the median monthly payment of $2,930.
Many potential homebuyers are instead living in apartments. The average monthly cost in Modesto was $1,652 in March, according to rentcafe.com. Only 1% of units were $1,000 or less.
One trend could work in favor of those hoping to buy a home. Lending rates have been rising since 2021 to help curb inflation, but some easing could be on the horizon. The 30-year yield could jump to 6.2% in a year from 6.8% now, the Mortgage Bankers Association has predicted.
A word about old almond orchards
The loss of almond trees to the Horton project is small, since Stanislaus County has about 210,000 acres of the crop. And eastern Modesto does not have the particularly productive soil that farmland advocates want to preserve.
Almond trees in the Central Valley were long burned in the open after they were removed for development or to plant another crop. That practice is now being phased out over concerns that the emissions could make residents sick and warm the global climate.
Increasingly, the wood chip piles are being turned into climate-friendly fuels or plowed into other farmland to sequester carbon. The Almond Board of California, based in Modesto, is investigating and promoting these practices.
Preparations for construction of a housing project in East Modesto, California, began on Thursday, July 25, 2024. The parcel is located east of Claus Road and north of Briggsmore Avenue, adjacent to the Modesto Amtrak station.
Ground is prepared for a new residential development on a former almond orchard in East Modesto, California, Thursday, July 25, 2024. The parcel is located east of Claus Road and north of Briggsmore Avenue.
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