Madonna family selling 2 ranches in San Luis Obispo County

The family owners of ranchland near San Luis Obispo that once belonged to longtime local businessman Alex Madonna are trying to sell the property, hoping that a new listing on the online auction site eBay will draw potential buyers.

Still in the Madonna family, the land, consisting of two ranches, is more than two miles outside San Luis Obispo city limits, off Prefumo Canyon Road.

The larger parcel, called the Alex Madonna/Twisselman/Stunuchi Ranch, is 1,205 acres. The asking price is $6.4 million.

The Madonna/Twisselman/Stunuchi Ranch is zoned as agricultural and is being used to graze livestock owned by the Madonna family.

“This land has been in our family for about 35 or 40 years,” said Cathie Twisselman, Alex and Phyllis Madonna’s daughter.

Asked why the family has decided to sell the ranches, she said, “We live out of town and aren’t able to take advantage of everything the area has to offer.

“This is the last piece of (our) property, on the coast or in the county, that has not been put into a conservation easement,” she added.

There are 14 certified parcels on the Madonna/Twisselman/Stunuchi Ranch that, Twisselman said, “could be used for future development of an investment property or the sheer pleasure of owning a gentleman’s ranch or farm.”

The other piece of property for sale is the 715-acre Serrano Ranch, with an asking price of $3.8 million. That ranch has seven certified parcels, Twisselman said.

The properties could be purchased together for $10 million, she said.

A video tour of the property is posted at YouTube, available at http://sn.im/ ranchtour. The larger property is listed on eBay at http://sn.im/ranchlisting, and the smaller of the two, Serrano Ranch, at http://sn.im/ranchlisting2.

This story was originally published October 1, 2010 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Madonna family selling 2 ranches in San Luis Obispo County."