Walls closing in on Dunmore home-building dynasty

Their debts are substantial and their reputations have been dinged. Their main business is gone. They are caught up in an intergenerational soap opera that threatens the family legacy.

But Sidney B. Dunmore and his sons Jeremy and Sidney D. Dunmore, heirs to a Sacramento-area home-building dynasty that has unraveled in the past year, insist they aren't finished.

The elder Sid Dunmore, who lost the family's flagship, Dunmore Homes, to bankruptcy and might lose his personal residences, said he's been approached by people about getting back in business one day.

His sons, who got sued for millions by lenders and have been accused by their grandmother of fraud, said they have a $100 million investment from Europe.

"Right now is the best time to be buying land," the younger Sidney Dunmore said.

A comeback would be remarkable, given how far the family has fallen and the drama that's ensued. The empire started in 1953 by family patriarch George Dunmore is in ruins. Its trappings – vast tracts of land, multimillion-dollar mansions, a corporate jet – are gone or are being pursued by creditors.

"The great name that George built … it's just tragic that all this has happened," said real estate analyst John Schleimer, who once consulted for the Dunmores.

Bankruptcy and scandal

The Dunmores helped build postwar Sacramento and became known as far away as Las Vegas as home builders to the middle class. George and his son, the elder Sid Dunmore, built 22,000 homes in total and are enshrined in the California Building Industry Hall of Fame.

Now the Dunmores, brought down by an epic market crash and their own ambitions, are synonymous with bankruptcy and scandal.

After George Dunmore died last October, Dunmore Homes filed for bankruptcy protection and went out of business. Its failure sank the reputation of Sid Dunmore, who ran the company the past 30 years.

"I spent 30 years building a reputation that I thought was a pretty good rep," he said. "It took about six months to get it smacked down."

His sons, who went into business for themselves years ago, are facing a particularly ugly allegation: Jeremy and young Sidney have been accused of fraud by their 84-year-old grandmother. George's widow, Ruth, says Jeremy and Sidney twisted her arm and used forged signatures to obtain their grandparents' guarantees on bank loans. The grandsons deny that, and her claims are partly disputed by one lender.

The younger Sidney Dunmore, 35, says he and Jeremy, 32, who do business as Dunmore Communities, have resolved three-fourths of the lawsuits against them and are working out the rest. But hurdles clearly remain; one creditor disputed Sidney Dunmore's claim that their case has been resolved.

Sidney Dunmore said he and Jeremy "are in negotiations on a few deals" with the backing of some old financial partners and a new investor, Dutch pension fund PGGM, which has committed $100 million to their firm. PGGM didn't respond to requests for comment.

The elder Sid Dunmore, 53, thinks he can get back in the game, too. He knows Dunmore Homes' demise angered many, including homebuyers who've been pursued by subcontractors for unpaid bills. But he's heard that investors are interested in doing business with him again.

"I've got some people who are very, very pissed at me, but I've gotten a lot of calls of support," he said. "People have said, 'Sid, you get back into it, we'll be there with you.' "

With other area home builders in financial trouble, such as Reynen & Bardis Communities, some in the industry complain the Dunmores are being singled out for media scrutiny because they're so prominent. Even some creditors sympathize with them.

"It's not like the Dunmores are having problems and nobody else is," said Ethan Conrad, a Sacramento real estate investor who issued the grandsons' firm a default notice on a $3.5 million loan.

Colfax investor Delbert Rapini, who collected a $294,000 judgment against the grandsons over a failed deal, agreed.

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