March 19, 2010
Millennium Tower Trivia (And One Bedroom Resale)
From the resale listing for 301 Mission #25B: "The 25th floor is one of the most desirable in the building, providing extraordinarily high ceilings found on only one other floor." Can you name that one other Millennium Tower floor?
∙ Listing: 301 Mission #25B (1/1) - $749,000 [MLS]
∙ Millennium Tower (301 Mission) Update: 30% Closed Or In Contract [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (25) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Bay Buildings, Listings (for sale)
A Comstock (1333 Jones) View Comp Closes A Little Bit Down
As we wrote this past November:
A tax assessed value of $2,393,000 would suggest a sale price not too far from the $2,350,000 asking price for 1333 Jones Street #505 when last on the market. Back on the market today, the two-bedroom and two-bath Comstock Co-op is asking $2,395,000.
The sale of 1333 Jones Street #505 closed escrow yesterday with a reported contract price of $2,000,000.
∙ A Trio Of Comstock 05’s From Which To Choose, Are Any "Just Right?" [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (4) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Apples To Apples, Bay Buildings
San Francisco’s Fabled Home ATM In Action? (704 Wisconsin)
Purchased for $540,000 in 1998, the single-family home at 704 Wisconsin was refinanced in 2003 with $765,000 in loans and then again in 2004 for $870,000.
This past January, the home was foreclosed upon with what appears to have been $1,049,621 of mortgage debt outstanding. Yesterday the Potrero home hit the market asking $799,000.
∙ Listing: 704 Wisconsin (2/2) - $799,000 [MLS]
Readers' Comments (19) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Bubble (Or Not), Listings (for sale)
San Francisco Recorded Sales Activity In February: Up 20.2% YOY
According to DataQuick, recorded home sales volume in San Francisco was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis last month (327 recorded sales in February ’10 versus 272 sales in February ‘09) and up 5.1% compared to the month prior.
For context, February sales figures for San Francisco from 2004 to 2008 were 537 (2004), 526 (2005), 429 (2006), 375 (2007), and 431 (2008) while the average January to February sales volume gain was 14% from 2004 to 2009.
San Francisco's median sales price in February was $627,500, down 2.0% compared to February ’10 ($640,000) and down a nominal 0.2% compared to the month prior.
For the greater Bay Area, recorded sales volume in February was down 0.9% on a year-over-year basis but up 2.8% from the month prior (4,987 recorded sales in February '10 versus 5,032 in February ’09 and 4,853 in January '10), while the recorded median sales price rose 20.0% on a year-over-year basis, up 1.1% compared to the month prior. Continue to think mix (and seasonality).
Last month’s median rose 20 percent above February 2009 largely because a year ago low-cost foreclosures were far more plentiful, lower-cost inland areas represented a substantially larger portion of total sales, and high-end sales were very sluggish. That made for an unusually low February 2009 median of $295,000.
Sales over $500,000 made up 31.9 percent of all transactions last month, compared with 23.6 percent a year ago. High-end sales have risen in part because more distress has crept into that segment of the market, creating more motivated sellers. Other sellers have simply given up on holding out for yesterday’s higher prices, which were supported by what was then a relative abundance of financing, some quite creative, for high-end homes.
At the extremes, Marin recorded a 37.8% year-over-year increase in February sales volume (a gain of 42 transactions) on a 7.3% increase in median sales price, while Solano recorded a 19.2% decline in sales volume (a loss of 107 transactions) on a 6.9% increase in median sales price. Only San Francisco and Napa (0.8%) counties recorded year-over-year decreases in their median sales price.
As always, keep in mind that DataQuick reports recorded sales which not only includes activity in new developments, but contracts that were signed ("sold") many months or even years prior and are just now closing escrow (or being recorded).
∙ Bay Area home sales down slightly from last year, median sale price rises [DQNews]
∙ San Francisco Recorded Sales Activity In January: Up 35.8% YOY [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (54) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Trends
555 Washington Round Two Vote Redux: EIR Approved But…
We should have been much more clear in yesterday's post with respect to the Planning Commission's voting on the proposed 555 Washington project.
While the EIR for the project was approved by the Planning Commission 4-3, votes on the project related to land use were delayed and not only include the impacts on Redwood Park and Mark Twain Alley, but exceptions for height, bulk, and parking.
That being said, we will call round two 10-9 in favor of 555 Washington (versus round one 10-9 for its opponents).
∙ Full 555 Washington Vote Delayed (Again) By "Administrative Error" [SocketSite]
∙ Let’s Get Ready To Rumble Over 555 Washington [SocketSite]
∙ 555 Washington: Round One Goes To The Opponents (But No KO) [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (15) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: As Proposed
706 Mission Tower (And Mexican Museum) Back In Play
From the San Francisco Business Times:
Millennium Partners is dusting off plans for a highrise condo tower at 706 Mission St. in San Francisco after two years in which the financial crisis brought planning to a virtual halt.
The project calls for Millennium Partners…to build a condo tower on a site made up of a 9,000-square-foot parcel the Redevelopment Agency owns and a 16,000-square-foot parcel the developers bought in 2006. The tower would house a 35,000- to 40,000-square-foot Mexican Museum, which the developers will build at no cost to the museum. Both the museum and condo tower would be connected to the historic Mercantile Building at 706 Mission St., a 1903 structure that the developers would restore. The height of the residential tower, which is being designed by Mexican architect Enrique Norton’s TEN Arquitectos and San Francisco-based Glenn Rescalvo of Handel Architects, would likely be between 450 and 550 feet.
The environmental impact report (EIR) is in the works along with entitlements, and construction could commence "late 2011 or early 2012."
∙ Muy Bien? Proposal To Restore And Develop Adjacent To 706 Mission [SocketSite]
∙ Millennium Partners revives S.F. highrise, museum [Business Times]
Readers' Comments (8) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: As Proposed
March 18, 2010
Full 555 Washington Vote Delayed (Again) By "Administrative Error"
The scheduled vote at today's Planning Commission Special Hearing with respect to the fate of the proposed 555 Washington project was delayed (once again) until April 15 due to "an administrative error."
UPDATE (3/19): 555 Washington Round Two Vote Redux: EIR Approved But…
∙ Planning Commission Special Hearing (3/18): 555 Washington [sf-planning.org]
∙ Let’s Get Ready To Rumble Over 555 Washington [SocketSite]
∙ 555 Washington: Round One Goes To The Opponents (But No KO) [SocketSite]
∙ 555 Washington votes delayed again [Examiner]
∙ 555 Washington Round Two Vote Redux: EIR Approved But… [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (4) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: As Proposed
Collateral Damage: 52 Rausch Goes Back To The Bank
A plugged-in tipster reports:
Yesterday, 52 Rausch Street was taken back by Redwood Mortgage, which held a $850,000 2nd. It has a senior loan for $2,550,000 to First National Bank of Northern California (South SF). This property also was cross-collateral for the $23 million construction loan for Cubix (apparent 3rd position here).
Along with the conversion of 60 Rausch and 73 Sumner, the eight-unit 52 Rausch was built by George Hauser as part of the The Mullen Buildings development of 2002.
∙ The Mullen Buildings: 52/60 Rausch & 73 Sumner [SocketSite]
∙ SocketSite’s Straight Scoop On The Collapse Of Cubix (766 Harrison) [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (3) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Bay Buildings, Bubble (Or Not), SocketSite Readers Report
Mojo Parklet Opens Up, Divsiadero Street Improvements "Unveiled"
As the sun comes up, the police barricades around Mojo Café’s parklet are down.
And in about an hour, Mayor Newsom will officially "unveil" the parklet, street improvements, and new median strip green along lower Divisadero.
We give both initiatives two enthusiastic thumbs up. Perhaps even two snaps up in a circle.
∙ Mojo Parklet In Place (And Rather Popular On This Sunny Day) [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (66) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Being Green, Neighborhoods
Relaxing BMR Rules At Mission Walk To Compete With Bank-Owned
Plugged-in people should have seen this coming (others simply scoffed at our noting reductions on BMR re-sales and comparisons of bank-owned and BMR price points).
From the Examiner today:
Purchasing rules that govern scores of San Francisco Redevelopment Agency condos are being relaxed to help sell the units in a battered real estate market.
“We’ve never had this much inventory on the market,” Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Fred Blackwell said.
Agency commissioners this week raised the income cap for buyers to qualify for some of the units at Mission Walk — a 131-unit, two-building project completed on Mission Bay’s Berry Street in July — from those earning 100 percent of The City’s median income to those earning 120 percent.
“The price points, when you look at foreclosures and look at our units, are pretty much the same,” he said. “What people are doing, it seems, is choosing to go with the foreclosures because the foreclosures don’t have the same kind of income restrictions or equity restrictions.”
Income restrictions have already been relaxed for the Bay Oaks development at 4800 Third Street and are expected to be relaxed for the 125-unit project at 5600 Third Street.
The Redevelopment Agency might also begin offering down-payment assistance for buyers in either of the two Third Street developments.
∙ Reductions Reach Below Market Rate Units On Ora Way (And Others) [SocketSite]
∙ Buy A BMR For $10K $25K More Than Bank-Owned At Candlestick Point [SocketSite]
∙ Changing rules to spur homebuying [San Francisco Examiner]
∙ Mission Walk (330/335 Berry) Phase 2 Inventory/Application Scoop [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (39) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Bay Buildings, New Developments, Real Estate Economics, Trends
