The San Francisco Shipyard Merchant Building Rendered

The downtown sales office for Lennar’s San Francisco Shipyard development opens this Saturday, along with an on-site welcome center, and the first release of condos has been priced: one-bedrooms will start at $452,500 and two-bedroom townhomes will start at $658,700, all with dedicated parking spaces.

The 63 condos in the “Merchant” building rising at 451 Donahue Street (as rendered above) will range in size from 500 to 1,150 square feet while the 25 three and four-level townhomes in the “Olympia” building rising at 501 Donahue will range from 950 to 1,500 square feet (not including their attached private garages).

Occupancy for the first wave of units at the San Francisco Shipyard is slated to start in September.

30 thoughts on “San Francisco Shipyard Condos Priced From $452,500”
  1. I thought these were going to be priced as an affordable option – according to my math these are starting at over $900/sqft ($452,500/500 sqft = $905). Not a good sign

    1. I bet they had to subsidized for the BMR’s. Who do you think will have to eat those discount if not the rest of the buyers?

    1. Not usually. $/sqft is remarkably consistent across units of all sizes in SF. There is sometimes a slight premium for single family houses versus condos (all things being equal) although that difference has decreased. New construction tends to be around 10% more than existing units (new condo smell) but that difference seems to have decreased also. I didn’t see square footages listed for the 2 beds.

      1. Wrongo bongo. Price psf varies quite a bit in SF for condos and sfh’s. From a low of $500 to over $1000 easy. So it makes perfect sense for the smaller units to be higher than the larger ones.

        I think these new Shipyard condos will do well btw. Have you taken a look at the views from over there? That, and the New Bayview(tm)*, which I’m personally helping to improve btw :), are starting to gain traction.

        * realtors, feel free to use said terminology.

        1. Bongo’s saying like for like units and is corect. All things bring equal except floor area, psf is quite consistent. Efficient market syndrome.

          1. That’s not accurate. Most new developments in SF have units that vary from about 700sf to 1400sf (1/1’s, vs 3/2’s) and the 1/1’s are almost always more psf. Show me some new sales bldgs where that is not the case?

  2. Here’s a relatively close current comp – much lower psf ($484) – in the same development in which Supervisor Malia Cohen defaulted on her loan and lost a condo to foreclosure:

    http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/301-Crescent-Ct-94134/unit-3201/home/12277927

    Interesting to see if the ‘new construction’ premium will carry the Lennar project at those prices. The Crescent place seems like a decent value, but ppsf becomes less relevant for small units at the entry level of a hot market.

    1. Yeah, that’ll go for more than $388k. Probs $425k+. So that’s close to these units.

  3. There used to be signs along the fence separating Donahue St. and the bay warning about a radiation hazard. Has that problem been cleaned up or swept under the rug bay waters?

      1. The history goes back to the 1940s when the US Navy conducted Operation Crossroads which detonated H-bombs that exposed old, surplus ships to the blast. Many of them sunk at the heavily contaminated Bikini Atoll. But those that remained floating returned to Hunters Point where they were “cleaned up” and salvaged. In the process radioactive particles ended up in the Bay. The really badly contaminated stuff was taken out to the Farallon Islands and dumped back into the sea.

        1. Thanks for the Information. I am a native San Franciscan and have lived here for 59 years and I never knew. I won’t be purchasing a home in this area.

  4. I went by these condos last week. Yes, they have some good views. But the surrounding area is horrible. These condos need to be priced at lower prices in my opinion. I’m not sure any price is low enough for me to consider living in a neighborhood that will take 20 years to completely turnaround, if ever.

    1. What’s so bad about the immediate area? It’s mostly industrial and to be developed into a lot more housing. The bad housing projects on the hill are in the process of being torn down. Right now the area feels more barren, but I don’t think it’s bad, as in bad neighborhood. No?

      1. It’s truly odd that bad housing projects are placed on the hill in Bayview. I wonder if that will forever dampen Bayview’s rise, especially in the context of the phrase “crime doesn’t climb”.

        1. No, because that entire (failed) housing project is getting torn down.

          1. Just curious: when house projects are torn down (and I hear similar thing is planned for the 25th/Connecticut one in Potrero Hill), what’s replacing it?

          2. @jack…BRIDGE housing is set to build about 1800 mixed income units on top of PotHill. The Westbrook projects on top of HP next to HPS don’t have a developer yet.

      2. as someone who lives in that neighborhood i can say that they only thing “bad” about the neighborhood is that we don’t have squat for services/stores nearby. closest cup of coffee is over a mile away. new people with money will help to change that unfortunate reality.

        1. Yes, that’s generally how gentrification works, lots of East Oakland are great examples of this right now. When the white people with money move in, the cafes and other amenities soon follow.

          1. Yeah but I betcha that bayview and the shipyard will gentrify much faster than east Oakland. 1- area is much smaller then east oak. 2- plenty other hoods to gentrify (competition) in oak, not much left in SF to gentrify. 3- it’s frisco! (Meaning, more white people per capita willing to risk the occasional stray bullet in SF than Oakland, due to the zip code…and easy commute to sil val.)

  5. As a bayview resident, I have forever heard people voice their opinions about the Bayview without knowing anything of the actual neighborhood or of the development plans. While it is true that this area is CURRENTLY without many services and disconnected the development plan brings every amenity to the area in the development phases. At full buildout this area may well mirror the marina as far as aesthetics, services, and amenities. Yes it will take additional time for a real neighborhood sense to develop, but being San Francisco you are realistically talking about 5 to 10 years. In that time Mission Bay will have reached its full buildout, the central waterfront will be in the midst of its buildout and the with the demolition of the other housing projects and new development and greenbelt, the hunters point shipyards will simply be an extension of that. Hayes Valley was once dominated by housing projects and its resurrection has happened in the midst of a few years, why such doubt for an area that will offer bay views, bay bridge across to san mateo, a marina, a green belt, recreational access, and with any luck an extension of the T line to connect it all to a second form of mass transit.

  6. Hi there. Are you new to SF? I mean, christ almighty, do any of you know anything about the history of this area?!?

  7. I don’t even know if you could call this bay view…it does sort of face the bay…although if you visit the site, you’ll see they r at an angle. It just seems ever further away from third than I imagined. The prices are a bit inflated for a “neighborhood” that has extremely far to come around. Even the signs going out there said turn around and watch out. The EPA report was concerning. Rename it sunrise district!

  8. I did a research paper in grad school and discovered that breast cancer rates in Bayview are really high, higher than the rest of the city. African American communities overall have lower breast cancer rates. Unless, of course, they are polluted.

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