Big views, costs in penthouses hitting market
If you’ve always wanted to own a penthouse in the sky — and who hasn’t — you’ll have more to choose from in San Francisco as a slew of topfloor condos in new South of Market highrises hits the market alongside a handful of older gems atop the city’s posh hilltop neighborhoods.
Most have asking prices that are as breathtaking as their views: Three are listed at $40 million to $49 million, which would set a record for San Francisco condo prices if they fetch anywhere near that.
Normally in San Francisco you might find three or four topfloor penthouses for sale in buildings with prestigious addresses and full services, said Gregg Lynn, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty. Now there are at least a dozen on the market or coming soon.
The good news is there’s no rush. Luxury penthouses take months, often years, to sell. The
top floor of the Lumina’s Folsom Street tower has been for sale since 2015 when the building was under construction. It was originally listed as a single home for $40 million. In 2018, it was split into two units priced at roughly $11.5 million and $10.5 million. This summer the developer began offering a $1.55 million incentive on each unit to build out the empty shells.
When I say penthouse, I mean the top floor of a building, even if it has more than one residence. Penthouses that occupy an entire story are rare in San Francisco and becoming rarer as developers expand the marketing definition of penthouse — which originally meant a shed or roof attached to a building — to include multiple units per floor on multiple floors.
The Avery, at Folsom and First streets, has eight halffloor “penthouses” on its top four floors.
The Harrison says its “signature collection” includes “17 luxurious penthouses” on five floors of the 49story building at First and Harrison streets. The most expensive unit, at $8.8 million, is not even on the top story — it’s one below and takes up a half floor. The Harrison’s top floor is taken up by a swanky lounge for residents and a quarterfloor, fully furnished unit priced at $3.7 million, or $2,184 per square foot.
By comparison, the median price per square foot for condos in San Francisco is about $1,600 for highrise and $1,500 for midrise buildings, according to brokerage firm Polaris Pacific.
The Harrison penthouses are “relatively affordable” for the views, said Debrah Kemp, project director with Compass Development, which is marketing the property.
That’s not far from the truth. A nearly 10,000squarefoot penthouse with a 4,000squarefoot terrace under construction at the Four Seasons Private Residences on Mission near Third is asking $49 million, or about $4,900 a square foot. It takes up the tower’s top two floors, which are Nos. 43 and 45, skipping 44 because, in Chinese culture, four is considered unlucky.
The penthouse will be delivered in July as an empty shell. It will take “another $10 to $15 million to finish it,” project architect Glenn Rescalvo said. Homeowners association dues are $11,453 a month; that includes valet parking for two cars and earthquake insurance.
It’s a block away from the Four Seasons Hotel on Market Street, which also has condos. One selling point of the new Four Seasons is that, unlike some other downtown highrises, it has no hotel, offices, apartments or belowmarketrate units in or adjoining the complex. Asked if the neighborhood’s street scene is a turnoff, Rescalvo said buyers “know what they are getting themselves into in San Francisco.”
While many penthouses are sold either as an empty shell or a “white box” with nothing but walls, others come fully tricked out.
The topfloor Avery units each come with two dishwashers and five ovens — two convection, one steam and two microwaves. One has hisandher master bathrooms. The unfurnished units both have two entrances, which are required in condos of this size. Each has a 1,000squarefoot deck with 30foot glass walls for wind protection. They’re priced at $20.45 million each, or roughly $4,700 and $4,900 per square foot. HOA dues are just under $2,500 per month.
The penthouse atop 181 Fremont boasts the highest asking price per square foot, but it comes fully furnished with interiors designed by MASS Beverly, Venetian plaster walls, a wine tasting bar and private gym. There are two kitchens, one for catering, the other for “exhibition.”
Although it’s been marketed privately while under construction, it will debut in October at $46 million, or about $6,630 a square foot. The project’s marketers say the fullfloor penthouse will be the tallest residence in San Francisco, with 360degree views. A halffloor unit just below the penthouse sold last year for $15 million, or about $4,500 a square foot.
The penthouse above it “could sell in a month, or in a couple years,” said Sandra Eaton of Compass Development, which is marketing condos in the top 17 floors of the building. Facebook leases all the office space in the lower 38.
Penthouses take time to sell because the pool of buyers is small, and they’re usually in no rush because they own other homes. “They have international home collection as a hobby,” said Dilan Urun, managing sales director for the Four Seasons Private Residences. “It’s a trophy purchase.”
The Italian owners of a halffloor penthouse atop the RitzCarlton on Market Street spent five years transforming it into a glitzy modernItalian showpiece, bringing in designers and craftsmen from Europe. But they never stayed there, and now it’s for sale at $9.9 million, or $2,753 a square foot, said Lynn, the listing agent. HOA dues are $3,700 a month.
The other topfloor unit at the Ritz sold last year for $5.95 million, or $1,964 a square foot.
Penthouse buyers “are pricesensitive, even though they have all that money,” said Joseph Lucier, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty. “Most people buying these apartments are in finance and tech. They are spreadsheet and valueoriented.”
Lucier represents the seller of a fullfloor penthouse at 2100 Pacific advertised as “one of only two 5,000plus sq. ft. fullfloor prewar penthouses in all of San Francisco.” It was originally listed at $14.75 million in April 2018. After several price cuts and a change of brokers, it’s now listed at $8.95 million, or just $1,728 per square foot.
The Pacific Heights home “was drastically mispriced from the start. It can oftentimes be an uphill battle relisting a property that everybody feels they have already seen,” Lucier said. “The property has not been renovated since 1992. We are looking for someone with $9 million and 18 to 24 months and a willingness to spend, realistically, $1,000 a square foot renovating it.”
A completely renovated prewar penthouse in the ClayJones building atop Nob Hill was just reduced to $12.9 million ($3,350 a square foot) from $16 million. It includes a giant clock from a Paris train station that was decommissioned in the 1920s. The twostory unit has spectacular views, which can be admired from the couch, thanks to some curved platforms the owners installed in the living room.
Penthouses at Crescent, a new condo complex on Nob Hill, and Mira, the twisty building on Spear Street near the Embarcadero, also will be hitting the market soon.
Buyers of luxury condos in Pacific Heights, Nob Hill and Russian Hill are often downsizing from singlefamily homes in the same neighborhood, Lucier said. They want a smaller place with a doorman, security and no yard work.
South of Market, they are more likely to be tech people who own a large home on the Peninsula and want a second home in the city for work or leisure and don’t want the brutal commute to the north end of town, Lucier added.
“Selling a penthouse is more of courtship and a marriage than it is a sale,” said Garrett Frakes, managing partner with Polaris Pacific. “You don’t sell to a buyer, you engage. It involves their architect, interior designer, financial adviser. They tend to be familyoriented decisions. A lot of times the family kills it.”
San Francisco sellers compete with penthouses in New York, London and other international cities, Frakes added.
New York penthouse prices — which range from $7,000 to $13,000 a square foot, according to Manhattan agent Robby Browne — make San Francisco’s seem almost puny. New York penthouses tend to be “bigger, higher in the sky. One I saw had a running track,” Browne said.
Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin bought an apartment at 220 Central Park South for $238 million this year. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly bought a threelevel penthouse at 212 Fifth Ave. that was listed at $58 million for an unknown price. He also paid a total of $28 million for the two units below it.