Having recently received a few (yes, more than two) inquiries as to both rentals, and sales activity at the St. Regis Residences here in this lovely city of San Francisco, we thought it high time to give you an update.
First off…not one closed transaction in 2010 (according to MLS). Second, there are currently eight, yes 8, active listings in the St. Regis and none of them are moving (average Days On Market of 105). Finally, …..well, we won’t go there.
We’d have to say, it’s a pretty damn good time to be a buyer at the St. Regis, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have a question about the St. Regis, or any other high rise gem punctuating our skyline.
Sometimes you just need a little real estate photo porn to get you through your day. Below are some images from One Rincon Hill (for those wondering, One Rincon Hill is the gigantic tower…some would say phallic symbol… that kisses the west end of the Bay Bridge off/on ramps), which were recently provided to us from the Design Above All Event (something we HIGHLY…no pun intended…recommend you go experience) that is currently taking place on top of the San Francisco skyline (~600 feet up to be more precise).
The views are incredible and the two & three-bedroom condominium homes (ranging in size from 1880-1957 square feet, and price of $3.1 and $3.6 million), which were designed by Carver+Schicketanz, of Carmel; Eugene Anthony and Associates, Ltd., of San Francisco; Labexperiment, also of San Francisco; and Donald Joseph Inc., of Sacramento, are quite nice, to say the least.
Living Room Design by Carver+Schicketanz or Carmel, California:
Unit 5301 Living Room Design by Labexperiment of San Francisco:
Unit 5302 Family Room by Eugene Anthony and Associates, Ltd., San Francisco:
Unit 5304 Living Room by Donald Joseph Inc., Sacramento, California:
Unit 5904 Living Room by theFrontSteps red tape ducking photog dawg prior to completion of the building (notice the Bay Bridge in the background), and post sucking back a tasty lager:
Unit 5904 Views captured by the photog dawg and his cohort that night! (That’s Millennium Tower in the foreground, not yet topped off.)
Beers on the balcony too…the balcony that didn’t have a railing (blurry image suggests shaking in fear of falling 600 feet to our death like idiots!):
And the elevator we took back down…duh! Obviously not that night!
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“Design Above All,” inspiration for luxury high-rise living 2009, is open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., and Saturdays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. through Nov. 1, at One Rincon Hill, 425 First St., San Francisco. Tickets are available at the door or online at www.sfdesigncenter.com. Admission is $20 (includes valet parking) and benefits three local charities: PAWS (www.pawssf.org), Food Runners (www.foodrunners.org) and At the Crossroads (www.atthecrossroads.org). Group rates available and must be arranged in advance. For more information, call (415) 490-5820 or visit www.sfdesigncenter.com
Our recent scoop on the sale of both Grand Penthomes at the Millennium Tower (one that sold to mega millionaire venture capitalist Tom Perkins) has been getting quite a bit of press lately, and oddly enough we received this email today:
This is all great [referring to the sale of a ~$9,000,000 condo] I suppose, but who is Tom Perkins?
Don’t get us wrong, we love your emails and especially your tips (keep them coming to thefrontsteps@gmail.com), but sometimes we worry about some of you readers….in a good way, of course.
Those of you that read this site frequently, know that we like to keep our eye on the St. Regis Residences here in San Francisco. We do this for many reasons, and we always like to report back to you, our dear readers as to what is going on in there.
Well….prices they are a droppin! So if you’ve had your eye on this building, give us a shout and we’ll give you the real deal scoop that is not fit to print. In a nutshell, here is a list of Recent BOM, and withdrawn listings at St. Regis (BOM=Back On Market).
Why would a property be BOM? In this day and age, the number one deal killer is financing. Especially when the building is as nice and well kept as the St. Regis.
The BOMs are interesting, but the recent sales prices are more interesting. Take a look at Unit 27D, which hit the market ages ago for $3,995,000 and recently sold for $2,300,000 (42% less than original asking and almost $1300/sqft)! Victory for the new owners for sure. What a fantastic unit and great way to take advantage of timing and unlucky pricing.
One more example, Unit 24C, originally listed for $2,495,000 sold recently for $2,195,000* (The asterisk means sales price was not disclosed, but we have it on good intel the price was around $1,850,000 +/-, which puts that price per square foot near $1100!) That is $1100 per square foot for one of the premier residences in San Francisco! That’s a little bit different than the >$1500 per square foot we had been accustomed to.
Okay, some more stats for all you St. Regis lookers. Average sales price per square foot in the building for recent sales $1476. Average price per square foot for expired or withdrawn listings at the St. Regis, we’ll call it around $1650.
Moral to the story…pricing is crucial when selling your unit at the St. Regis these days, and buyers are clearly in the driver’s seat. Millennium Tower is putting forth some good competition for the St. Regis too, so make sure you check out all of the property available to you… especially those on top.
In news of the top of the world today, we’ve been told both Grand Penthouse Residents on top of Millennium Tower have now been sold (ink is dry, it’s a done deal).
Grand Penthouse A (GPHA), which is on the Northwest corner of the building with a nice big patio, closed escrow recently (somewhere around $10 Million), oddly coinciding with the recent rumored sale of the Maltese Falcon, so if you’re wondering who could potentially be living, or at least claiming their slice of pie in the sky up there, that’s a pretty darn good hint.
Grand Penthouse B (GPHB), which is on the South East corner and also has a large patio (better in our opinion because there is sun and less wind), was sold a bit before A (somewhere around $9 million…Update from reader “rich”: “Tax records show a $8,100,000 for GPHB!! What a steal”), and naturally there is a story here. It was told to us that the ultimate buyer of GPHA was actually in contract on GPHB and waiting for the first buyer of GPHA to fall out of escrow, and for a little teeny weeny yacht to sell, which all apparently happened (some guys have all the luck, eh?) And being swift like a Falcon, the buyer, and his agent (Katy Dinner) swooped in and landed themselves in the $10 million shell on top of the San Francisco Skyline. Furniture, walls, and appliances will cost extra, but for those who need to pump their ego, what better place to lay down a fist on the table and claim your dominance than the top of Millennium Tower.
So there you have it, both Grand Penthomes at the Millennium Tower have been sold (as a reminder, they are empty shells yet to be built out), and there were more than a handful of interested parties.
Life is pretty good at the top, isn’t it? Gotta wonder how that Penthouse at the St. Regis feels about that.
We’ll bring fresh lime margaritas to the house warming, and gladly launch a paper Falcon from the balcony and watch it drift down to the peasants below.
We haven’t done a Battle Royale in a while, but we thought this recent email could not only shed some light on the steals and deals being thrown out by The Infinity to get their Towers sold, but also a bit of debate as to whether it’s better to put your money in San Francisco, or Peninsula real estate.
From the reader (edited slightly for syntax):
Hi,
Love your blog!
I would like your opinion…
I’m looking to purchase either a new 2 bedroom townhouse in the peninsula or else a 1-2 bedroom condo at The Infinity. I will be purchasing with 4-6 other people for The Infinity (volume discount, we each get our own place, 3 people will be in the $800K -1.4mil range so i think we will have a lot of bargaining power), or trying to find a good discount for a new townhouse in the peninsula. Which would be the better investment?
I’m [f*cking young!], make $110K a year, first time home buyer, would probably rent out a room at either the condo or the townhouse, and prefer not to do any remodeling.
Thanks!
Go Giants or go home! San Francisco all the way. Way better investment in our eyes (we are biased), way better location, and at your age, you’ll likely have a helluva lot more fun. Just make sure we get an invite to the housewarming party (have you heard about our fresh lime margaritas), and there is no lifeguard on duty when we cause a ruckus in the pool! Marco…Polo…Fish Outta Water!.
Thanks for the email, glad you like the blog. We like you.
Because I had a listing not too long ago at the St. Regis, I like to keep up on that building, and lucky for you, I like to share what I find. Although young, considerably younger than my colleagues (most of whom I completely respect and admire) selling in the building, I’m no dummy.
Here is a list of most recent activity at the St. Regis (188 Minna). What is important to note on all of the “active” listings, every single one of them has either been on the market before with another agent, or been reduced by a large enough margin to reset the DOM (Days On Market). So they are hardly “new” and hardly “active”. In fact, I’d go so far as to say every listing there is a Stalefish, which by no stretch of the imagination means it is a bad property, just getting a little long on the market, and a great opportunity for you buyers that have your eyes on the St. Regis.
Let’s take a look at the most recent sales: Unit 27D, which started in June of 2008 at $3,475,000, reduced countless times, eventually down to $2,995,000 in December 2008 and withdrawn from the market. Relisted in January 2009 at $2,550,000 and recently sold in March 2009 at $2,300,000. That is $1,175,000 (34%) less than original asking price and it took nine months to get there.
Unit 25D was the only other 2009 sale, and was originally listed in September 2008 for $3,995,000, withdrawn in December, relisted with a new agent in January 2009 at $3,200,000 and eventually sold April 2009 for $2,500,000 ($1,495,000 or 37% less than original asking price) or $1402 per square foot and eight months on the market.
For comparison, we sold unit 38B three months prior to unit 27D, and we sold it in seven days for a higher price per square foot than what 27D recently achieved, and many would argue 27D to be a nicer unit. At the time we advised our clients to take the offer we had on the table and run to the hills, even though it was below asking (asking $2,395,000), and we knew we’d be laughed at by some other agents selling in the building and rumors about our sale would quickly circle, which they did, and which is exactly why we kept the sales price confidential.
So that brings us to the facts, and good comparisons to see what has happened to high rise luxury real estate in San Francisco in just one year, and how a little foreshadowing saved our clients time and money. Unit 38B sold in March 2008 after seven days on the market (with us), for roughly $1350+ per square foot…cash. Unit 27D listed three months after our sale for $1940 per square foot, took nine months to sell for $1337 per square foot. Unit 25D listed six months after our sale, eventually sold eight months later for $1402 per square foot.
We’ll let you do the math and discuss. For us, the writing is on the wall, and if you’re interested in a unit at the St. Regis, or currently live there, we’d be happy to discuss all high rise luxury sales and listings with you (email alexclark@gmail.com).
Hullabaloo, hullabaloo, hullabaloo. That appears to be what everybody loves these days (especially when it seems to highlight more economic hardship for anybody…we’d think it easier to claw out of a recession if we shifted our focus elsewhere), and so it is no surprise the city (we’ll call it more the real estate obsessed readers) were up in arms over Robert Selna’s Chronicle Article stating (among other things):
The developer of the new condominium tower that dominates San Francisco’s southern skyline has told The Chronicle that he does not plan to pay the $5 million in fees that were central to obtaining city approval to build the high-rise.
Apparently the Chronicle didn’t get it exactly right…shocker!
From the developer of One Rincon Hill himself:
An open letter to the leaders of the city of San Francisco, Rincon Hill residents, our project partners, and the media:
While it is unfortunate that my discussion with the San Francisco Chronicle was taken out of context and thus reflected inaccuracies, it does provide me with an opportunity to share what has been and continues to be our commitment to both the project and the City. As such, I share the following.
Not only is One Rincon Hill more than 70% sold*, but sales once again are brisk; in fact, sales traffic has been above the pre-crash level (60-100 tours) every week in 2009. We are pleased to report that we have almost fully paid our construction lender and contractors, have no liens against the building and appreciate the unwavering support of our partners. We have not received any funds from the City in any aspect of the development of this project.
We have every intention to complete Tower II, but, as I said publicly months ago, we are waiting for the economy, and the residential real estate market in particular, to turn on the upswing. There is no rush to proceed at this time.
In specific response to the reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle that “he does not plan to pay the $5 million in fees that were central to obtaining city approval to build the high-rise,” this is not my plan. In fact, to date we have paid more than $16.6 million in fees:
Affordable housing in lieu fee (offsite) $11,026,146 (Dec. 2005)
S.F. public school fee $858,448 (Feb. 2006)
Rincon Hill Community Improvement fee $3,162,889 (Sept. 2006)
SOMA Stabilization Fund fee $1,268,306 (Dec. 2005 and Sept. 2006) Total: $16,615,789
The sole remaining fee to be paid is the balance of the SOMA Stabilization Fee of $13.75 x 393,884 square feet or $5,415,905. This payment is not yet due. The payment becomes due when we obtain a final Certificate of Occupancy (which has not yet occurred); or, alternatively, we can post a letter of credit at that time to delay the payment by 6 months. In other words, we are not in default nor do we intend to be. Furthermore, the developer will not receive any distributions from the project before the SOMA Stabilization Fund fee is paid.
In my typical candor, I shared with the Chronicle the realities of today’s economy on our project – no different from what most every project is the country is experiencing. As we are in the most egregiously difficult financial environment of our times, I am realistically concerned with the burden of this fee. This was the intent of my discussion with the Chronicle, and I am disappointed it was not more clear. That said, we plan to pay the fees when due and proceed onto Tower II of this project which will provide a very singular living experience in a world class city.
Thank you for this opportunity to update our project and our vision.
Where readers ask and we (the community) try to answer:
This proposed building at 430 Main / 429 Beale requires exemptions for maintaining a 45 degree angle opening to the sky in all directions from an internal courtyard … meanwhile, it would BLOCK the SINGLE 45 degree angle opening to the sky from BayCrest Towers’s open spaces (courtyard/pool area, 2 barbecue patios) and units facing the courtyard. However, Rincon Hill Plan’s mere existence means the Planning Department doesn’t have to do an environmental impact report. What gives ?!?!?
The developer, Portland-Pacific, and their design team will hopefully get an earful from BayCrest, Bridgeview, and Portside residents when they hold a meeting on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm at South Beach Harbor Services Building’s Community Room, between Pier 40 and AT&T Park.
Contact Tuija Catalano at 415-567-9000 or 430Main@portland-pacific.com at the developer with any questions …
There you have it. We have no idea what gives, and hope the community can take it over on this one. Answers to Jamie’s questions would surely be appreciated as would your attendance and phone calls we’re sure.
This topic was discussed very lightly in a thread somewhere back on this site, but we thought it deserved front page attention. From “the Banker”:
I have found that there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty and recent questions in reference to all of the Condo Guidelines and Approval Changes that are directly hitting the San Francisco condo market. I will note that these rules are those issued by the Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
There are exceptions to the rules and [my bank] does have certain projects approved, or grandfathered in before all of the changes. Also, because of the relationship [my bank] has with the Agencies, we also have the ability to request for Exceptions. This is a major advantage that [we have]!!!!
Here is a list of some of the new, potential pitfalls:
-New construction financing is being increased from 51% to 70%, again if not grandfathered in or currently approved
-No more than 15% of the projects’ units can be 30 or more days delinquent on HOA dues
-The project cannot have more than 20% commercial space
-Fidelity Insurance is required for Condos with 20 or more Units
-No more than 10% of the project can be owned by one entity
-A HOA must be in control for at least 1 year
Again, these are the guidelines and exceptions can be made.
As always, if you have more questions, feel free to drop us a line (thefrontsteps@gmail.com), or make a comment below. If you’d like to get in touch with “the Banker”, that can be arranged as well.
This chic, contemporary residence is located in one of San Francisco’s most desirable buildings in an excellent centrally located SOMA block (right across the street from San Francisco’s Academy of Art College). It has one bedroom plus a den, one bathroom, a very open and spacious feel, bamboo wood floors, modern kitchen, great natural light, and one car deeded parking! Price is set at $639,000 and there will be an open house this weekend on Sunday (3/1/2009) from 2-4pm, and every Sunday thereafter until it is sold. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in this great condominium at 199 New Montgomery, please do not hesitate to stop by or contact Alex Clark (alexclark at gmail dot com, 415-254-5351) for details.
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[Full Disclosure: The editor of this here insanely popular real estate blog is the listing agent on this property. Big time exposure like this is just one of the perks of listing your home, condo, or multi-unit building with him.]
From the marketing team behind BLŪ, San Francisco:
Please note that we are nearly ready to deliver homes at BLŪ on 631 Folsom Street. First though, we need to fulfill a lender commitment to pre-sell 25% of the building. Once we hit that number, we can commence closings. In an effort to reach this 25% sold level quickly, we are lowering prices dramatically until the pre-sale goal is reached.
We have 1000+ [square foot] two-bed/two-bath homes with parking in this 21 story high rise which we are offering starting in the upper $500′s.
The deals will last until our lenders allow closings to begin and then the discounting will end.
Assuming the pricing of our most recent post on BLŪ, that would mean they’re selling homes that were previously “starting from the $600s” now “in the upper $500s”. sfnewdevelopments (found via Curbed SF) is talking 10-20% reductions (previous price in parentheses):
Residence A – starting from $743,000 ($925k)
Residence B – starting from $631,000 ($809k)
Residence C – starting from $622,000 ($799k)
Residence D – starting from $743,000 ($930k)
Residence E – Starting from $575,000 ($739k)
Residence F – starting from $673,000 ($809k)
As you can see, pricing varies depending on the source. Our starting prices for the “E” and “F” plans are significantly different than those sfnewdevelopments is quoting, but we’re not holding it against them. We’re just saying…don’t offer what they’re asking at the sales office, and don’t believe everything you read. Remember, in real estate EVERYTHING is negotiable and it NEVER hurts to ask.
We didn’t get a chance to head down to The Montgomery and report back on their coming of the Ox Chinese New Year celebration party, but we can bring you this:
Notice the top right corner of that photo? We’ll give you that extra 1.5% commish back, so don’t be shy getting in touch with us, and/or registering me, Alex Clark, as your agent during your first visit. Feel free to email for details.
--------------------------- 45 Van Buren, Glen Park Condo $729,000
Top Floor 2 bed, 1 bath, 1 pk, views, decks, hot tub, remodeled kitchen, fireplace, Hardwood, W&D, feels like Single Family Home
Recent Transactions
Below is a PARTIAL list of my recent transactions:
-------------------------- 1119 Hopkins Ave in Palo Alto!
Buyer Representation
5 bed, 3.5 bath, 3626 sqft, Single Family Home
New Construction
Original Asking $3,475,000 (Purchased for much less) Contact Alex Clark for details
-------------------------- 195 Beacon
Buyer representation:
4 bed, 3 bath, Mid Century Modern "Green" Home
Asking $1,650,000 Contact Alex Clark for details
--------------------------- 2185 Bush #307
SOLD $790,000,
3bd,2ba,1pk condo
Lower Pacific Heights
Top Floor, High Ceilings, Living/Dining Combo, Fireplace, bright, patio & balcony, views, Earthquake Insurance, A+location
Represented Seller Email Alex Clark for details.
--------------------------- 62 Buena Vista Terrace
Buyer Representation
2 bed, 1 bath Top Floor Condo
$885,000 Contact Alex Clark for details
--------------------- 2186 33rd Avenue
Buyer Representation
3 bed, 2 bath Center Patio Home
$815,000 Contact Alex Clark for details
--------------------- 442 41st Ave (SOLD $1M) $1,049,000
3 bed, 1 bath up
1 bed, 1 bath down (unwarranted)
2 Pk, Outer Richmond Single Family
Represented Seller Email Alex Clark for details
--------------------------- 613 Peralta (SOLD Cash $520,000) 2bd, 1 ba, 1pk, $539,000
Bernal Heights Condo
Represented Seller Email Alex Clark for details
------------------------ 241 7th Ave (SOLD-$950,000 cash) PRICE REDUCED $1,129,550 $999,000!
2bd, 1.5 bath, 2pk, Inner Richmond Single Family
Represented Seller Email Alex Clark for Details
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