Manteca Hat Mansion Won't Be Torn Down For High-Density Housing

MANTECA (CBS13) — A plan to tear down a 30,000-square-foot Manteca mansion and replace it with high-density housing is dead.

Manteca City Councilmembers opposed the plan partly over concerns the city couldn't provide fire and police support for the growth.

The mansion sits next to a new suburban neighborhood.

"It's out of character with what we think of in the valley here," Manteca City Councilman Rich Silverman said. "Personally, from this view, I see a little of the White House."

Besides admiring the architecture, Silverman has another reaction when he visits this mansion.

"It is a problem, for the community. What do we do with it?" Silverman said.

Built on such a grand scale on an orchard, surrounded by Manteca suburbia, the property, called the Hat Mansion, was built by grape broker Michael Hat in 1995.

A video tour inside shows the opulence, including a movie theater, wine cellar, and massive swimming pool.

The mansion was purchased out of foreclosure by development company Richland Communities in 2003 when no one wanted to move in.

Empty all these years, a recent effort to build 1,000 units of high-density housing on the land, tearing down the mansion, has been rejected by the Manteca city council.

Silverman also opposed the plan, concerned about water use, and public safety needs.

"We're struggling to manage the growth that we have now; we do have a growth cap," Silverman said.

Julius Alejo lives nearby. He'd like to keep his Hat Mansion view.

"If they could leave it alone, just like this, that'd be great," Alejo said.

An empty Manteca mansion—it's an incredible sight, with an uncertain future.