Building Profile : Bellaire Tower

January 27, 2009

We’re excited about our new series here at Inside SF Real Estate called “Building Profiles“. From time to time we’ll pick a random building to spotlight and give you all the stats, trends and scoops.

So… where do we begin? We figured it would be best to kick things off with the building Mayor Gavin Newsom calls home, Bellaire Tower.

Stats and Scoops

Official Address(es): 1101 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Cross Streets: Green at Leavenworth
Neighborhood: Russian Hill
Year Built: 1930
Style: Art Deco
Height: 252 feet, 77 meters
Layout: 64 units on 20 floors, an average of 3.2 units per floor
Property Type: Condominiums – 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units
Architect: Herman Carl Baumann
Other notable projects by Herman Carl Baumann include 1800 Pacific Avenue, 2400 Buchanan, 3401 Clay, 1950 Clay, 2201 Sacramento, Bellevue-Staten Apartments (Oakland), Gaylord Suites and 1950 Gough. (Emporis.com)
Mayor Gavin Newsom purchased a 2-bedroom, 1-bath condo around 1,700 square feet for $2,350,000. The previous owner was a friend of Mayor Newsom’s, Mr. Peter Getty. (San Francisco Business Times)
The architect invested heavily in the building and suffered a financial disaster due to the Great Depression. (Emporis.com)
The building has a rich, ornate Spanish lobby. (Emporis.com)
In Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Vertigo, this building can be seen in the distance from in front of the Elster’s apartment building. (Emporis.com)
Bellaire Tower is 2 meters taller than the Ferry Building.
Bellaire Tower is 2 meters shorter than the New York Stock Exchange.
Bellaire Tower is the 110th tallest building in San Francisco. If Bellaire Tower were magically moved to New York, it would rank #852.
3.38 Bellaire Towers stacked on top of one another would equal the height of the Transamerica Pyramid.

Bellaire Tower sits atop Russian Hill, just northwest of San Francisco's financial district (click to enlarge)

For more fun info, real estate trends, and lots of pics, continue reading –>

Real Estate Trends

There is only 1 active listing at the Bellaire Tower at this time. Unit #702 is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath home with approximately 920 square feet. It is listed for $759,000 or $825 per square foot.
Per the MLS, the highest recorded sale for Bellaire Tower was $1,635,000. Two sales have closed for this amount, both in 2004. Keep in mind there are higher sales that were private.
Private sales are common at Bellaire Tower, as we saw with Mayor Newsom’s purchase.
The building averages 4.25 sales per year, which is pretty low turnover considering there are 64 total units. Put another way, around 6.5% of the building’s units sell each year.
The most active year on record (per MLS) was 1997, with 10 recorded sales.
In August of 2008, the building topped $1000 per square foot with the sale of unit 1403. Again, this is per the MLS and does not reflect private sales.
The latest HOA fees indicate around $1.10 per square foot per month. However, we cannot verify that the HOA calculates its fees based upon square footage.
The average square feet per unit, per the MLS is 987.
Average marketing time for a typical unit is 63 days, or around 2 months.
Parking is available on site with valet. 24-hour doorman.

Photo Gallery