“Harrow Manor”, the Julia Morgan-designed estate at 62 Farragut Avenue, is on the market and in the news this week.
The property’s owner, Sonoma County developer Kenneth Mattson, is under investigation for fraud by the FBI, according to a San Francisco Chronicle article on May 26.
The six-bedroom, 8½-bathroom estate at 62 Farragut Ave. in Piedmont, designed by famed California architect Julia Morgan, is to be offered for sale for $9.9 million, according to an online listing posted Thursday by the Grubb Co., a real estate brokerage.
FBI agents searched Mattson’s home in unincorporated Sonoma County on Friday, agency officials said, weeks after his business partner alleged that the developer had defrauded investors.
Over the past decade, Mattson and the business partner, Tim LeFever, have bought properties in and around the city of Sonoma worth more than $240 million, including the Sonoma Cheese Factory and the historic General’s Daughter event venue.
But even before LeFever’s allegations and the FBI raid, the men’s real estate acquisitions raised concerns and criticism from local residents, including accusations that the pair failed to complete projects as promised.
Mattson could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Records show Mattson bought the Piedmont property in 1999. Ongoing renovations at the historic home, some apparently carried out without proper approvals, prompted a flurry of complaints over the years from neighbors in the wealthy East Bay enclave, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.