Last Week's Biggest Sales: Marina Manse Scores $8.6M
Listed for: $9,500,000Received: $8,600,000
Size: 6-bed, 6.5-bath, 5,420-square-foot single-family home
Location: 663 Marina Blvd., Marina
The skinny: This home was purchased for $4.25M in 2013, and came back on the market with huge $9.5 million price tag two years later. The reason for the dramatic increase in price? The home was completely remodeled, and the "view is one of the only things about the home that didn't change the during its recent overhaul."
Big Marina Boulevard Mediterranean Goes After $7.499M
The big, white house at 465 Marina Boulevard is a classic Marina Green-facing Mediterranean. It has huge windows facing onto the water accented by small iron balconies. Inside, there are curved doorways and arched windows sprinkled throughout, and a curved staircase moves between the three floors. The home was built back in 1930 and hasn't sold for years, although it popped on and off the market back in 2007 without selling. Now it's back and asking $7.499 million for its six bedrooms, five and a half baths, and 5,420 square feet of space.
Mapping UFO Sightings All Around the Bay Area
According to a new map that compiles more than 90,000 UFO sightings across the United States since 1905, there have been just two sightings within San Francisco's city limits during that time. Back in 2000, six people reported seeing a circular object with a turquoise hue, but it turns out that they may have just been witnessing a missile launch out of Vandenburg Air Force Base. Three more people reported a fireball out over the Pacific Ocean back in 2011. Although San Francisco itself has been fairly quiet on the UFO front, there have been plenty of UFO reports around the Bay Area over the past hundred or so years, especially in the East Bay.15 of the Coolest New Shop Interiors From Around the World
The new Carousel of Light book emporium in Bucharest, Romania—Photo by Cosmin Dragomir
As it turns out, not all stores have to be vanilla spaces chained inside sprawling malls. Take a gander at these provocative new shops from across the globe and it becomes clear that strong interior concepts can tell compelling stories of their own. From an ultra-minimalist chocolate store to a futuristic sex shop, a perfume grotto to an utterly ethereal book emporium, these spaces will no doubt awaken and inspire visitors' senses—call it retail therapy, with no purchase necessary.
Pacific Heights Townhouse Gets New Look and $2M Price Jump
When the elegant multi-level town house at 2319 Washington Street in the heart of Pacific Heights last sold for $2.495 million back in 2010, it was advertised as a completely remodeled home that was move-in ready. However, in 2011, not long after selling, it underwent a big renovation from luxury development group Toboni Group. It's nowquietly back up for sale for $4.5 million, which is just over $2 million more than its last sales price. With a new look from Emily Taylor Interiors, the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom home is now yet again being touted as ready for move-in.
Diamond Heights House With Indoor Pool Wants $2.28M
At first, there seems to be nothing special about the four-bedroom at 160 Gold Mine Drive in Diamond Heights. Like many other homes in the area, it's a low-slung house with a two-gar garage built in 1974. A first glance inside shows a modest home with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace in the living room, but it's what is on the other side of the living room's glass doors that makes this place a bit different from most other San Francisco properties. In a big concrete solarium-style room there is a large swimming pool, likely one of the only of its kind in the city.
Absurdly Purple Art Deco House in Corona Heights Asks $2.85M
Sitting on the corner of Ord and 17th somewhere between Corona Heights and the Castro is a house that cannot be missed. The big Art Deco home has been painted bright, bright purple with accents of turquoise and magenta. San Francisco is a city known for its colorful facades, but this one is undoubtedly one of the wildest in the city. When the house last sold for $1.8325 back in 2012, it was a subdued shade of gray. In the ensuing years, it has added a lot of color and more than a million dollars to its price—it's now on the market asking $2.85 million. When the house was considered by the city as a potential historic resource years ago, comments noted that the yellow paint job of the time seemed inappropriate and was "unfortunate." It's hard to imagine what the assessors would think of the current purple hue.
The 85-foot SoMa office building planned for 505 Brannan Street could eventually triple in height to 250 feet by adding a massive addition on top after it is built. New height limits for that part of SoMa would allow the project to grow, although it is complicated to add stories on top of a building once it has been constructed. Developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities filed plans for the expansion with SF Planning this week. [SF Business Times]Curbed's Picks for the Most Livable Cities in the U.S.
Design publication Metropolis recently released its list of the world's most livable cities, using a formula that combined feedback from a panel of experts as well as a variety of factors that make any urban area more appealing, "the sum of the housing, amenities, connectivity, and in a word, pleasures a city has to offer." The rankings included a bulletproof top three of Toronto, Tokyo and Helsinki, as well as cities that are excelling by particular metrics and up-and-coming metropolitan areas to watch.
While the choices were solid, the inclusion of just a handful of American cities—Indianapolis (landscaping) and Pittsburgh and Reno (preservation) among them—made us pine for guidance on the most livable places in the States. In an effort to decipher which cities make the cut, Curbed decided to look at the research. We consulted numerous livability studies covering everything from overall quality of life, bike friendliness and green space access to economic and aesthetic rankings on the best places for the creative class and those with the most affordable housing (the entire list of studies we consulted, and our scoring system, can be found below). After crunching the numbers, here are the top five. Of course, any ranking is arbitrary and doesn't take personal experience into account. It also should be noted that none of the top five cities could be found anywhere near the rankings of most affordable places to live. But based purely on aggregating different rankings, these cities stood out from the rest.
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Glen Park Hoarder House Lists for $899K, Sells for $1.525M
The two-bedroom house at 11 Hiliritas Avenue in Glen Park was well-known to its neighbors long before it went up for sale in late June. According to listing agent Patrick Lam, the seller's father, who had lived in the house for many years, was a hoarder and the home was completely packed with things. Even the garage and front yard were filled with old cars. The house was cleaned out for the sale, but it remained in ramshackle condition. Potential buyers, of course, were not deterred by either the condition or the $899,000 listing price. The sellers had ten offers to choose from and finally settled on $1.525 million in cash, nearly 70 percent over asking.
Why It's Important to Pre-Qualify for a Mortgage
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What $7,300-$8,000/Month Rents You in San Francisco
Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a column that explores what one can rent for a set dollar amount in various San Francisco neighborhoods. Is one man's studio another man's townhouse? Let's find out! Today's price range: $7,300-$8,000.
↑ You want ornate? This epitome of grandeur clocks in at 3,450 square feet and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It's a Pacific Heightsflat in a building built in 1898, and it looks as though it's been impeccably cared for ever since. There's even a "reception room that was originally imported from Paris." The rent? A cool $8,000/month. There's laundry in the 3-unit building, pets are negotiable, and parking's available if you want to shell out an additional $500/month.
How Will Cuba's Real Estate Market Adjust to a New Era?
"Come on, this is bullshit, this is for show, it can't actually be real."
When travel journalist Nick Watt was told that travelers to Havana's Paseo del Prado could find not just snack vendors and tourists on the famous promenade, but a thriving, open-air real estate market where Cubans buy and sell homes, he was a bit incredulous. But as he discovered during filming of his Travel Channel show Watt's World, the promenade plays host to a key part of Cuba's nascent real estate market, a recently unleashed aspect of capitalism in the socialist country that, as relations with the United States normalize, opens up a host of questions and possibilities.
"Consider real estate in the same way people look at classic cars on the street here," he says. "People like me love Cuba, we think the cars held together with Band-Aids and the old colonial buildings are amazing. But once the money comes in, will Cubans want up-to-date buildings? In 20 years, will there be old, dilapidated buildings here?"
Apple has reportedly reached an agreement to lease office space at 235 Second Street in SoMa. If the deal, which is a sublease from CBS Interactive, goes through, it would mark Apple's first space in the city. The space could hold between 400 and 500 employees, although there are no indications which Apple teams would take the space. [SF Business Times]Play Tour Guide and Impress Visitors with Your SF History Skills
Have friends or family in town this summer and no idea what to do with them until it's time to eat again? Convince your parents you do more than just drink beer in Dolores Park by taking them on a tour of historical sites in the Bay Area. Impress visitors with your local knowledge, and maybe even learn a little something along the way. While some may be well-known and full of other wayward tourists (they are famous for a reason, after all), we tried to include a few hidden gems too. Here now is the Curbed SF Quick & Dirty History Tour for Out-of-Towners.
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- Associate EditorTracy Elsen
- Features EditorSara Polsky
- PhotographerPatricia Chang
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