sanfrancisco

Another Pricey San Francisco Home, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates

The San Francisco real estate market is full of pricey properties and the former estate of the late superstar lawyer Melvin Belli is one of the biggest. The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column reports that the home now belongs to a businesswoman who bought the home in 1992 for around $6.5 million. She's looking for a big return on her investment, the home is now listed at $39.5 million.

The home does occupy an enviable spot in Pacific Heights and does have great lines. It was created by San Francisco architect, Frederick H. Meyer for Stetson G. Hindes, a prominent engineer whose firm constructed the drydock at Pearl Harbor and other major projects. The home makes the best use of the views, providing them with a formal framework that is far from California casual. The home has six bedrooms and there is both a large main kitchen with a butler's pantry and catering room as well as a second kitchen on the lower floor. The master suite has two seating areas and views of the bay and the home's exquisite landscaping below. This property also includes an elevator, 3,000+ bottle wine cellar and garage parking for 4 cars.

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Gallery: Another Big San Francisco Estate

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Tags: estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, melvin belli, MelvinBelli, pacific heights, PacificHeights, san francisco, SanFrancisco

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Four Seasons San Francisco Becomes The Latest Hotel In Default

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

It's happened again, another luxury hotel is in default. Millennium Partners has said that it has defaulted on a two-year-old, $90-million CMBS loan for the Four Seasons San Francisco. Like other hotel owners, Millennium made this move as a bargaining tool with an eye toward renegotiating the debt with the special servicer, LNR Property Corp., because the value of the hotel is lower than the debt. Alan Reay, president of Irvine, CA-based Atlas Hospitality Group told GlobeSt.com. "My prediction is you are going to see vast majority of CMBS loans in California--probably throughout country--defaulting."

We've already seen another California hotel, the W Hotel in San Diego in a similar situation. Loans made over the past two years were made at the peak of the market. Now with real estate prices and hotel occupancy rates in sharp decline, borrowers want relief. The Four Seasons San Francisco remains open and is offering a package that offers a free third night if you stay two consecutive nights.

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Tags: default, four seasons, FourSeasons, san francisco, SanFrancisco

Sea Cliff Contemporary, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's home has some of the best views of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge I've ever seen. The home in the Sea Cliff area is set high on a cliff and behind a gated drive. The wood and glass home is cantilevered over 55 steel pillars. The decor is pretty dated and there are some questionable finish choices such as the black stone and dark wood in the kitchen and the pale carpeting in the main areas. The listing says that there are approved plans for a huge addition of around 3,500 square feet which makes sense since the home is less than 4,000 square feet and has just two bedrooms.

A Socket Site post from last year provides more details. The home was listed at $18 million last year but was as low as $9 million back in 2002. It has been on and off the market for ten years. Frank Lloyd Wright may have done a preliminary design for the site but his drawings bear only faint resemblance to this home. It is listed at $11.5 million.

Gallery: Sea Cliff Contemporary

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Tags: estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, san francisco, SanFrancisco

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Gap Founder Drops Plans For Presidio Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Wealth

Looks like Gap founder Donald Fisher will be taking his art elsewhere. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Fisher and his family have scrapped plans to build a contemporary art museum at the Main Post of San Francisco's Presidio. Earlier Fisher had scaled back the plans for his museum in San Francisco's Presidio to appease those who found the museum's first planned design a bit overwhelming. Fisher originally unveiled his plans for a contemporary art museum at the end of 2007. The Fishers had hoped to convince critics, San Franciscans, and regulatory bodies such as the National Park Service that the museum would be beneficial for the park.

Donald Fisher released a statement that said he and his wife would be taking some time to consider the future of their collection and other possible locations for the museum including some inside the Presidio, just not on the site of the former bowling alley that they had originally planned on. The statement also said that the decision was made "with disappointment and sadness." The Chronicle reports that an outside survey of possible impacts of various Main Post Presidio projects found that the scale of the museum, even with the newer more modest revision, was "inconsistent with the overall historical character of its setting."

In addition to the museum the Fishers had promised a $10 million gift to go toward turning the Main Post's parking lot into landscaped grounds but it's not known if that offer is separate from the museum gift. The comments on the Chronicle article are spirited, some are expressing relief that Fisher's plans won't come to fruition while others are disappointed that a museum which would have displayed a large contemporary art collection to the public may end up elsewhere. Given the hard times facing museums everywhere lately, it seems like it might be a better idea to endow a wing of an existing museum rather than create a new one out of whole cloth.

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Tags: donald fisher, DonaldFisher, museum, presidio, san francisco, SanFrancisco

Ten Biggest Real Estate Price Drops

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

The most expensive real estate in the country has taken some pretty major price cuts over the past year or two. In the past, mega-mansions with huge pricetags would often sit on the market a year or two without a price cut with owners secure in the knowledge that the right buyers would eventually come along. These are uncertain times and there are some very motivated sellers testing their luck in the real estate waters. Our list of top ten reductions of U.S. properties we've covered in the past starts at a $10 million cut and it only gets higher from there.

10)The Sloane Mansion, was $64 million, now $54 million
Price Cut=$10 million
The Henry T. Sloane mansion on East 68th Street in New York City is located just steps away from Fifth Avenue on the East Side. The building has 18,500 square feet total spread out over five stories and there are 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, seven fireplaces, a ballroom and a rooftop garden. The mansion was designed by architect Charles Pierrepont H. Gilbert for Sloane, the heir to a furniture empire, in 1905. The home is classic Beaux-Arts style and five of the rooms have all their original details intact including wood-paneled ballroom with original oil-painted murals. It has been on the market for over a year but may need to go lower than $54 million in this economy.

Tags: dunellen hall, DunellenHall, estates, hamptons, new york city, NewYorkCity, palm springs, PalmSprings, park city, ParkCity, price cuts, price drops, PriceCuts, PriceDrops, san francisco, SanFrancisco, santa barbara, SantaBarbara, suzanne somers, SuzanneSomers, utah

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San Francisco Dream House Raffle

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

For a $150 raffle ticket you could win a $2.4 million home in San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Dream House Raffle is a fundraiser to build funds for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The raffle is giving away a total of 370 prizes and the grand prize is a $2.4 million San Francisco dream home or $1.8 million in cash. A total of 37,000 tickets will be sold. There are a total of 369 other prizes valued at $25,000 to $300 so you have a 1 in 100 chance of winning something.

The property includes a newly-built main house and a guest cottage which have not been lived in.There is a four-bedroom main house of approximately 3,150 square feet and a separate two-bedroom guest house that is around 1,150 square feet. Both homes are decorated and the main home includes a baby's room.

[Thanks, Elizabeth!]

Gallery: San Francisco Dream House Raffle

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Tags: dream house raffle, DreamHouseRaffle, house raffle, HouseRaffle, raffle, san francisco, SanFrancisco

Austria, Switzerland Top World's Best Places to Live

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

vienna Europe – the same corner of Europe, actually – claims the first three spots in Mercer Consulting's annual Quality of Living Survey. Vienna, Austria and Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland lead the list, followed by Vancouver, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand in a tie for fourth.

Little has changed for the top half of the top 10. Last year, Zurich nabbed the top spot, and Vienna and Geneva shared the #2 spot. Vancouver is unchanged year-over-year, and Auckland's #5 finish last year is roughly the same as its tie for fourth in 2009.

Not only are the top places to live ostensibly enjoyable, you're more likely to be there for a while. Life expectancies in these cities start at 79 years. It's better than living a nice long life in a dump, I guess.

The United States doesn't appear until the bottom of the top 30, with Honolulu and San Francisco. From Asia, only Singapore picks up a spot in the world's 30 best places to live. South America and Africa are not represented at all. It's strange, I half-expected to see Mogadishu on this list.

Of the 215 places listed, Baghdad has the distinction of finishing last. Sometimes, common sense prevails.

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Tags: africa, asia, auckland, austria, baghdad, california, canada, geneva, geneva switzerland, genevaswitzerland, hawaii, honolulu, iraq, iraq war, IraqWar, mogadishu, new zealand, newzealand, san francisco, SanFrancisco, singapore, somalia, south america, SouthAmerica, switzerland, vancouver, vienna, vienna austria, viennaaustria, zurich, zurichswitzerland

Mayor Gavin Newsom Puts His San Francisco Apartment Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

San Francisco well-coiffed mayor Gavin Newsom has two good reasons to be selling his San Francisco apartment, his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom is pregnant and he has his eye on being the next governor of California. Newsom's one-bedroom penthouse in San Francisco's Bellaire Tower just doesn't have enough room for all that ambition (although at 1,693 square feet it is a generously sized one bedroom). The Real Estalker led us to the listing for Newsom's exquisitely decorated apartment with stellar views of San Francisco. Newsom bought the apartment in 2006 for $2.35 million.

The apartment home has a large living room with a woodburning fireplace and arched windows that frame the views. The apartment is done in chocolate, white and beige tones with pops of color in the form of large paintings. It's all very luxe if a bit over decorated for those with more eclectic tastes. The apartment includes a dining room, media room and a library as well as a master suite with a walk-in closet and a marble bathroom. The apartment is listed at $2.95 million.

Gallery: Gavin Newsom at Bellaire Tower

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Tags: estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, gavin newsom, GavinNewsom, san francisco, SanFrancisco

Artful Rusticity: Organic Furniture by Urban Hardwoods

by Paul Rogers (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

In many if not most places, when a tall old tree becomes befallen with disease and must be torn down, it gets chopped into firewood or hauled to a landfill. Not in Seattle, where a furniture company called Urban Hardwoods salvages doomed sycamores, elms, walnuts, Pacific madrones and other species and fashions them into one-of-a-kind household pieces.

The company makes a range of hand-crafted products, including dining and coffee tables, desks, side tables, benches and headboards. Each is marked by rich-grained wood and a distinct organic shape: a black walnut dinner table branches into a "Y"; a coffee table made from the cross-section of red cedar bears the outline of a clover leaf.

Urban Hardwoods has two showrooms, one in Seattle and another, opened this month, in San Francisco. It ships to all 50 states. The pieces range from $1,000 to $10,000.

Gallery: Urban Hardwoods

Tags: Organic furniture, OrganicFurniture, San Francisco, SanFrancisco, Seatte, Urban Hardwoods, UrbanHardwoods

The Castle on the Park, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

They call it the castle on the park but it's actually a former church. Today's home is a Gothic Revival building overlooking Dolores Park in San Francisco. It started off as a church back in 1909 and is now renovated into a three-bedroom home with plenty of stained glass and open spaces including the main hall on the ground floor. The home includes a new kitchen, a luxury master bath with a marble Roman tub, a master changing room, mahogany cabinets in the living room set against massive expanses of exposed brick. The church tower has 360 degree views from arched stained mahogany windows and roof-top deck and features a custom steel and transparent plexiglass spiral staircase. It's gorgeous space although it seems like a bit of a decorating challenge and will need of plenty of furniture to turn it into a warmer personal home. This home is listed at $9.95 million.

[via International Herald Tribune's Raising the Roof]
Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: Castle on the Park

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Tags: castle on the park, CastleOnThePark, church, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, san francisco, SanFrancisco

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Gap Founder Donald Fisher Revises Museum Plans

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Gap founder Donald Fisher has scaled back the plans for his museum in San Francisco's Presidio to appease those who found the museum's first planned design a bit overwhelming. Fisher unveiled his plans for a contemporary art museum at the end of 2007. The large modern white box composed of white masonry interspersed with glass to allow people outside to view some of the art within didn't sit well with locals. The new design is a bit more restrained and in keeping with its surroundings. It has a low pavilion with a landscaped roof and, blends in with rather than dominates the historic park and its brick barracks buildings. The new design by WRNS Studio is now shorter than the rooflines of the barracks and is 24,000 square feet smaller.

The Fishers are hoping to convince critics, San Franciscans, and regulatory bodies such as the National Park Service that the museum can be beneficial for the park. The museum is just part of the Presidio Trust's plan for the Main Post, which will also be home to an expanded theater and a hotel. Public presentations for the Main Post and museum proposal will be held in April and more information can be found at the Presidio website.

Judging by the stream of comments on the article on SF Gate about this museum it appears that many citizens feel very strongly about whether Donald and Doris Fisher should be allowed to build any structure in the Presidio. Some see it as an ego move and think the city would be better served if the Fishers would donate their substantial contemporary art collection to an existing local museum such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

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Tags: art, donald fisher, DonaldFisher, gap museum, GapMuseum, museum, san francisco, SanFrancisco

Steve Vigar City Skylines Chess Set

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Chess sets come in all shapes and sizes, and this one designed by Steve Vigar makes a statement by pitting famous cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco against each other. Each piece is unique and handcrafted of exotic woods, with the back row pieces forming the chosen city's skyline and front row pawns representing significant architectural styles. The board is made of solid zebra wood and whangee, and the felt-lined storage drawer underneath is an optional addition. $2,100

Hm, now which two cities to choose?

Via acquire

Gallery: Steve Vigar Chess Set

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Tags: chess, chicago, new york, NewYork, san francisco, SanFrancisco, skyline, skylines, steven vigar, StevenVigar, vigar

The Millennium Tower Discounts 15 Percent

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

One of the most lavish condo projects in San Francisco, the Millennium Tower, will be given a price chop. The 60-story glass tower with sweeping Bay Area views is reducing prices by 15 percent including offering a refund on units already sold. The tower, San Francisco's tallest residential building is being built in the South of Market area. The tower includes a club level with a screening room, pool and pool terrace, fitness club, tasting room, lounge, dining room and fitness center. A residents-only dining room is serviced by Michael Mina's restaurant RN74 which is located in the tower.

The cuts are in line with recent housing data in the San Francisco market which have shown prices falling over the past year. So far the Millennium Tower, San Francisco's fourth-tallest building, has 92 units, or a fifth of the total, under contract. The decision means that the developer Millennium Partners LLC will refund 15 percent of the $22.5 million it has in deposits. The building is set to open in mid-April.

[via Bloomberg]

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Tags: condos, milennium tower, MilenniumTower, millennium, real estate, RealEstate, san francisco, SanFrancisco

Will Travelers Buy Carbon Credits At The Airport?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

You are rushing through the airport trying to make your flight. You've paid extra to check your bags, you'll pay extra for a meal and you're contemplating buying a book for the flight when you see it, the carbon credits kiosk. Will you buy a little guilt free flying? The San Francisco Chronicle reports that travelers flying out of San Francisco International Airport will soon have that option, being able to buy credits at from carbon offset company, 3 Degrees at a kiosk resembling the self-service check-in stations used by airlines. The computer would calculate the carbon footprint based on your flight and print out a total which can be paid immediately. Prices could run anywhere from under $5 for a short flight to over $35 for an international one. The program at the San Francisco International Airport calls for kiosks will be placed throughout the airport. 3Degrees will get 30 percent of each purchase, with the rest going to carbon-reduction projects.

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Tags: 3 degrees, 3Degrees, carbon credits, carbon offset, CarbonCredits, CarbonOffset, san francisco, SanFrancisco, sfo

$70 Million In San Francisco, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

I first mentioned this one back in August but now the listing is available for us to take a good look. Back in August the San Francisco Chronicle reported that real estate mogul Victor MacFarlane put his St. Regis penthouse for sale for $70 million which would easily set a record for San Francisco. The condo is roughly 20,000 square feet and was originally three unfinished units on the top two floors. He bought the property for about $30 million in late 2005. The property also features 2,900 square feet of terraces with 360-degree views of many San Francisco landmarks. Glass walls also offer plenty of light and the foyer has a winding staircase and two-story waterfall. There are six bedrooms, two offices, a wine storage room, a gym with a sauna and a home theater room. It is definitely one of the most striking apartments in the country, let alone San Francisco but will anyone pay $70 million for it? Other San Francisco properties above the $30 million or so mark have lingered on the market. I suspect $70 million is a bit ambitious for a Bay Area apartment, even one as fabulous as this.

UPDATE: This home is now listed at $49 million.

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Gallery: $70 Million in San Francisco