theFrontSteps - San Francisco » New Developments

St. Regis Penthouse Originally $70 Million, Now $35 Million…Has Found A Buyer

thefrontsteps — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:07:20 +0000

This is big news. According to SFLuxe, the Penthouse I reported on back in July that occupies roughly 20,000 square feet of the Luxury St. Regis Hotel in downtown San Francisco has found a buyer.

How’s that for a Merry Christmas!

Opportunity To Be On South Park…No Not The Cartoon

thefrontsteps — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:25:49 +0000

I have come across another great opportunity for all of you one bedroom buyers that would love to be in one of San Francisco’s best locations…South Park.

This unit has been marketed off of MLS for a fair bit, and I’m surprised to hear it still available.

Details are here, the listing agent is here, and I am here to help you make this your new home (or city pied-a-terre) where you can enjoy all the South Park reruns from the comfort of your South Park home.

…and how can you deny yourself such easy access to the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen literally out your door!?

-One bedroom, one bath, one car parking at One South Park, $659,000 [PocketListings.net]

St. Regis Penthouse Was $70,000,000, Now $35,000,000. Yes, That’s Correct – $35,000,000 Less.

thefrontsteps — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:04:51 +0000

The original “asking” price for the 20,000 square foot St. Regis Penthouse (188 Minna), was $70,000,000, and at that price it was only slightly ambitious. Now at 50% less or $35,000,000 and still not officially “listed” on MLS, I expect all but one of the buyers in San Francisco to be able to qualify for this property.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this penthouse is “likely the most expensive bank-owned, single-family residential real estate listing in the country.” If that doesn’t get all of you first time buyers looking for a deal and to purchase foreclosed property to jump at this opportunity, perhaps the description will: Six bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, four fireplaces, a library and a home theater. The living room has 22-foot-high ceilings and an entrance foyer with a two-story waterfall feature. There’s also a 2,500-square-foot master suite with a gym, sauna and steam room and 3,000 square feet of terraces with views of the city and the bay.
Because you always ask…and I’m always happy to share, “The apartment was built by real-estate investment manager and developer Victor MacFarlane, who purchased three apartment shells then combined them into one large finished unit. He sold it back to the bank in a deed in lieu of foreclosure after it failed to sell after several price cuts. The unit is now owned by Second Step Asset Management, a subsidiary of Bank of America.”

And it could be yours for $35,000,000…chump change.

-Schedule a Private Showing
-Deluxe San Francisco Penthouse to Relist for 50% off [Wall Street Journal]
-On Top Of The World At The St. Regis San Francisco [theFrontSteps]
-St. Regis Penthouse Marketing Details [Sotheby's]
-Both Millennium Tower’s Grand Penthomes Are Sold, Thanks To A Yacht [theFrontSteps.com]

Hunters Point Shipyard Redevelopment Project

thefrontsteps — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:58:13 +0000

An interesting solution to an otherwise forgotten stretch of San Francisco land. Hats off to CCLR for putting this video together and sending it my way.

Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR), based out of San Francisco, is a nonprofit organization focused on creating sustainable communities and encouraging environmentally conscious and socially responsible development through the facilitation of land recycling.

Bravo!

For more videos by CCLR head to their YouTube Channel.

San Francisco New Development Sales Report

thefrontsteps — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:35:40 +0000

We recently got our hands on a massive downtown/highrise/new development report provided by the Mark Company (they happen to do most, if not all, of the new development marketing), and we thought we’d share a tiny summary with you. If you’d like detailed numbers and more commentary on the market/sales, feel free to contact us.

According to The Mark Company’s report:

* The number of closings in new developments in SF decreased by 19% month-to-month with 29 closings in Oct. vs. 36 in Sept.
* The average price per square foot for condos sold decreased by nearly 24% with an average of $685 psf in Oct. vs. $897 psf in Sept. Meanwhile, the average price decreased by nearly 22% to $639,588.
* The number of currently selling market rate condominiums reached 945 in Dec., a nearly 5% decrease from Nov.

It clearly took a while to get this report done and the numbers might be considered a bit “old”, but we’ll make sure to get it out to you in a timely manner the next time around. But for the most part, it’s right on the money.

“Fastest Sales-Cycle For New Home Development In San Francisco”

thefrontsteps — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:58:43 +0000

Generally, we shy away from posting media blitzes on our site as they usually are simply a way for us to publish a sales pitch, but this time given the state of the housing market across the nation, and here in San Francisco, we thought this PR push worthy of a mention at the very least.

Union by Palisades, a new residential condominium and loft development at 2125 – 2101 Bryant Street, “has concluded the fastest sales-cycle for new home development in San Francisco this year, and at an average price that exceeded many luxury high rise properties. Between January and September of 2010, Union closed transactions on all 76 homes…”

That’s pretty impressive, and great to hear buyers are out there, loans are funding, and deals are closing.

-Union by Palisades [website]

Can We Get A Sale In 2010 At The St. Regis For Chissakes!

thefrontsteps — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:15:01 +0000

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.

Here is a nice little spread sheet of the recent comps (had to go back to 2008 to get anything good) for the St. Regis Residences in San Francisco. Enjoy.

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.

Tasty Views, Cool Beers, And Designer Living, 600 Feet Above Ground At One Rincon Hill

thefrontsteps — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:00:35 +0000

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.

To see what the building looked like before, have a look at our photos from the topping off ceremony, but don’t forget to have a look at the photos below.

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!

———–
“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

Who Is Tom Perkins And WTF Does He Have To Do With Us

thefrontsteps — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:50:22 +0000

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?

Apparently, theFrontSteps is more responsive and accurate than a quick and easy Google search on “who is Tom Perkins”, so, since you asked, we thought this video would give you some idea about the man, and his (former) yacht:

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.

BOMs Go Off, Prices Drop At St. Regis Residences San Francisco

thefrontsteps — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:24:25 +0000

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.

Happy Friday y’all!