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But while the vacant 770,000-square-foot suburban office park — it once housed 2,500 workers — has been a weak spot in Novato’s economy since the insurance company left seven years ago, it is now positioned to give the northern Marin County city something that could make it the envy of its neighboring communities: a major source of new housing.

Bay West Development, which bought the property with a partner in January for $28 million, is proposing to knock down the three concrete office buildings and replace them with 1,081 housing units. The plan calls for single-family homes along the western portion of the property, townhomes within the project’s core and 55-foot multifamily apartment buildings fronting Redwood Boulevard. The apartment buildings would have a bike and pedestrian connection to the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit station across the street, to the SMART train that runs between Santa Rosa and Larkspur, near the ferry terminal. About 26 acres would be public open space.

While the planning process for the redevelopment likely will take two years, the timing could not be better for Novato, which, like all California cities, is under increasing pressure to meet state-mandated housing goals. The 1,081 units would represent more than half of the 2,090 homes Novato likely will be required to produce in the next eight-year Regional Housing Needs Allocation cycle, known as RHNA, which will run from 2023 to 2031.

Novato City Councilmember Susan Wernick, who represents the neighborhood where the Fireman’s Fund campus is located, said she feels fortunate to have 63 acres on which to build housing at this juncture. When Wernick moved to Novato in 1982, the bucolic Fireman’s Fund campus was just being built and was heralded by the city as both a revenue generator and a source of good jobs.

“Now all these years later there is a lot less demand for office space, but we have this housing crisis we have no choice but respond to,” said Wernick. “I think we could end up with a really great project.”

In total, Marin County will be required to build 14,000 housing units during the RHNA cycle. Several Marin cities are appealing the RHNA allocations: Sausalito is asking for a 83% reduction and San Anselmo is requesting a 67% drop in its goals. But experts say those appeals are unlikely to succeed.

Novato, a city of about 50,000, sits at the threshold of Marin and Sonoma counties. It is 11 miles north of San Rafael, Marin’s county seat and 11 miles south of Petaluma. Home to Biomarin Pharmaceutical, and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato is far enough away from job centers like San Francisco and Silicon Valley that it has not attracted the big tech firms such as Google or Facebook. Commercial rents are 22% cheaper than San Rafael and 44% less expensive than Larkspur. Its 2 million square feet of industrial space is nearly fully occupied.

And Novato is not only a more affordable place to do business; its housing costs are also less than other Marin towns. While the average home price has jumped 16% since the pandemic started to about $1 million, it is still cheaper than Marin cities like San Anselmo, where homes average $1.59 million; Corte Madera, where homes average $1.7 million; or Mill Valley and Larkspur, which both are approaching average listing prices of $2 million, according to Zillow. San Rafael is about 30% more expensive than Novato.

“Novato is more like Sonoma County than southern Marin in terms of having a balanced economy,” Sonoma State economics professor Robert Eyler. “It’s always been that bridge between the more suburban and more rural part of the North Bay.”

Haden Ongaro, managing director at the commercial real estate brokerage Newmark, said that it made sense that the Fireman’s Fund land would go residential. The campus was far too big for most Marin tenants, the majority of which require less than 5,000 square feet, and too far from mass transit options to appeal to the tech giants like Google and Facebook. The pressure from Sacramento to produce housing gives home-builders increased confidence that they can overcome Marin’s famously anti-development politics, he said.

Ongaro compared the Fireman’s Fund proposal to that of the Northgate Mall in northern San Rafael, where a new owner recently proposed a plan that would add more than 1,300 housing units to that largely vacant retail complex. Residential developers are eyeing several other obsolete commercial sites in the county, he said, including several around downtown Novato.

“There is a lot more pressure to deliver housing — that is something that I hear in my dealings with local officials,” he said. “A residential developer can justify paying a little more for a site than they would have because there is a better chance it won’t take eight years to get approved.”

Beyond satisfying the state-mandated housing goals, adding several thousand residents to the Fireman’s Fund property could help pump more life into downtown Novato, which is about 1 mile to the south. The shopping district has seen an influx of new businesses in the past few years, including the restaurant Blue Barn, Masa’s Sushi, Rustic Bakery, two wine tasting rooms, two tap rooms and two bike stores. Other businesses include Copperfield’s Books, Irish bar and grill Finnegan’s Marin, and Village Child, a kids’ clothing store.

Stephanie Koehler, executive director of the Downtown Novato Business Association, said the Fireman’s Fund project would bring much-needed customers to the burgeoning district’s 411 businesses.

“Our downtown has improved drastically since Fireman’s Fund closed — we have much better stores and restaurants,” she said. “But we could use more foot traffic. The thing about any downtown is it’s like chicken and the egg — you need the people to come buy the stuff or go to the restaurants.”

Other housing developments proposed for downtown Novato include 32 units at 1107 Grant Ave., a former hardware store, and 227 units of affordable housing at Novato Medical Center at 1316-1320 Grant Ave. — although that project faces opposition due to lack of proposed parking, Koehler said.

Emily Rich, who owns Village Child on Grant Avenue, said foot traffic is up 30% since she opened in October of 2018.

“Novato is a sleepy town in general,” she said. “It’s not a destination like some of the other Marin cities. It’s a little bit the ugly stepchild of Marin — you say you are from Novato and there is a sense that, ‘Well that’s not quite Marin.’ But I think we are coming into our own. Novato has a rich underbelly of culture and community that may not be obvious to outsiders. There is a lot of civic pride and a lot of people who have been here for decades.”

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen

Jim Harbaugh’s stint as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers ended in 2014. Seven years later, he’s shopping around his Bay Area home for $13 million.

That’s about double the $6.3 million he paid for the property in 2012, records show. Harbaugh, who played high school football nearby at Palo Alto High School, picked the place up after leading the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game and winning NFL Coach of the Year during his first season with the team.

The estate covers 1.3 acres in Atherton, an affluent enclave that is home to Bay Area sports stars such as Stephen Curry and Jerry Rice that regularly ranks as one of the priciest ZIP Codes in the country.

A main house and guesthouse occupy the gated grounds, combining for five bedrooms and seven bathrooms across 8,500 square feet. The main house is approached by a winding driveway and stone pathway, opening to formal spaces that combine hardwood floors, beamed ceilings and millwork across two stories.

A stone fireplace anchors the living room, and the chef’s kitchen adds barrel ceilings. Other highlights include an office and bonus room, while the similarly styled guesthouse adds a gym and yoga studio with mirrored walls.

Trees surround the grassy backyard complete with a garden, playground, horseshoe pit and swimming pool with a diving board.

Harbaugh, 57, played quarterback for the Bears, Colts, Ravens and Chargers during a 14-year NFL career before turning to coaching, leading the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens. He currently coaches the Michigan Wolverines, where he played college football and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.

The DeLeon Team at DeLeon Realty holds the listing.

Article source: https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2021-07-28/former-49ers-coach-jim-harbaugh-seeks-13-million-for-bay-area-mansion

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — How much do you really need to make to comfortably afford housing in the Bay Area?

The National Low Income Housing Coalition released a comprehensive report that shows what residents need to make annually to afford a zero-to-four bedroom in different areas.

In San Francisco, renting a one bedroom apartment alone requires a six-figure salary; specifically $116,920.

Broken down into an hourly wage, that would be making $56.21 per hour to have a one bedroom all to yourself.

Anyone who is making just the minimum wage in San Francisco, $14 per hour, can comfortably afford a $728 rent payment, according to the coalition. The minimum wage worker would need to put in 161 hours of work per week to afford a one bedroom alone.

To no surprise, San Francisco is California’s top most expensive place for housing – followed by the San Jose area, Santa Cruz area, and then the Oakland-Fremont area.

Article source: https://www.kron4.com/news/real-estate/how-much-money-you-need-to-afford-rent-in-san-francisco/

233 West Santa Inez Ave may be most famous for its repeated appearances in the national news in 1974, during the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).

During the 19-month ordeal, Patty’s parents, Randolph and Catherine Hearst, made regular appearances on the front steps of Patty’s childhood home under the tall Monterey pines, as a gaggle of reporters from across the world leaned in. 

The press frenzy grew when, two months after she was abducted, Hearst infamously announced on an audiotape that she had joined the SLA and taken the name “Tania.” One of the recordings, which starts “Mom, Dad, I’m OK…,” was played on the steps of the mansion as Randolph, Catherine and reporters listened in. Alongside the press and family, psychics were invited into the house to attempt to locate Patty.

Hearst later repudiated the SLA and claimed she was brainwashed by the organization.

The mansion is located in one of the most expensive ZIP codes in America, 94010, and features a grand dining salon, French doors, a private bedroom wing, a yoga space, a wine cellar, rose gardens, pergolas and a “sparkling swimming pool.”

“The grace of this home has been enjoyed by some of the most influential families in the Bay Area – past, present and now future,” reads the blurb for the listing. 

While the identity of the buyers are not known, the seller was Adrian Bellamy, a British businessman who served as board chairman of Gucci and later The Body Shop.

Elsewhere in California, the Hearst Estate in Beverly Hills — the giant mansion that was the home of William Randolph Hearst and featured in “The Godfather,” and Beyonce’s “Black is King”  — just hit the market for a whopping $90 million.

Below is some drone footage of the storied Hillsborough mansion. Find the full listing here.

“We just saw four straight month-over-month gains in the Bay Area, after seeing it drop more than 17% in a month as recently as January,” said Matt Kreamer, a data spokesperson for Zillow. “That’s a sign that the market might be on the road toward rebalancing, though it will likely be a sellers’ market for quite some time still.”

Kreamer said the Bay Area is one of only a few places in the country where inventory is up from a year ago — but that’s mainly because it was already very low in 2020. In the San Francisco metro area, only 5,000 homes were for sale at one point in 2020.

“Overall, the main trend we’re seeing in the Bay Area and everywhere is that of people seeking out more affordable places to live, especially as many have become untethered from their offices thanks to an explosion in remote work,” Kreamer said.

For the second month in a row, the number of homes available for sale across the country rose in June, up 3.1% over May, which may be “an indication the market may be beginning to find more balance after long tilting heavily towards sellers,” according to the report.

According to the report, inventory dropped significantly over the pandemic due to an “intense demand for houses.” That drove fierce competition and a significant uptick in prices.

But the report notes that inventory is still low and demand remains strong, resulting in record highs for home value appreciation.

Zillow’s Home Value Index estimates typical home value for a region based on multiple data sources, including seasonal variations and the values of homes nearby.

In San Francisco, the Home Value Index began a significant rise in July 2020, reaching $1.296 million in June, up $172,435 or 15% from a year ago.

“Home values are climbing faster than they ever have before, up more than 15% from a year ago and nearly 3% from just a month ago in the Bay Area,” Kreamer said. “It will take more than a few months of modest inventory gains to offset the demand that is driving up prices so quickly.”

The U.S. Home Value Index was $293,349 in June, a 15% increase from a year ago, the highest increase since Zillow began collecting data in 1996.

The report identified similar trends in the San Jose metro area, which saw an increase of inventory from May to June of just 49 homes. The Home Value Index in the area, which includes Santa Clara and San Benito counties, was $1.433 million in June, up 3.7% month-over-month and up 17% from a year ago.

So what’s the bottom line for homeowners?

“Their homes are worth significantly more than they were just a year or even a few months ago,” Kreamer said. “It’s a great time to sell right now, so if a homeowner is thinking of moving somewhere else … they should be able to sell their home for a premium and have equity to use toward the purchase of their next home.”

But the conditions make buying tougher, despite historically low interest rates, Kreamer said. The continued increase in home prices makes it harder to save for a down payment, particularly in competitive markets where homes are selling above the asking price, such as the Bay Area.

The rental market has seen a strong recovery, especially in San Francisco, where rents plummeted earlier in the pandemic as many people left seeking more affordable cities and suburban environments.

The Zillow Observed Rent Index shows San Francisco’s typical rents have been increasing since the beginning of the year, up 1.9% month-over-month for a typical rent of $2,985 and up 6% since January. In San Jose, the Observed Rent Index is up 1.2% month-over-month for a typical rent of $3,015 in June, an increase of 4.5% since January. Across the U.S., typical U.S. rents increased 1.8% month-over-month.

Typical rents are found by calculating price differences for the same rental unit over time, then aggregating those differences across all properties repeatedly listed for rent on Zillow. The company also created weights for the index based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. Find the methodology here.

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang