2626 Filbert Street
Starchitect Construction on a Thin Lot
You don’t see this everyday: an owner selling their custom home after just a few years living in it. We see new construction all the time, but it’s important to distinguish the quality of a spec-house built by a developer vs. a custom house built by an owner. The latter is vastly superior. And 2626 Filbert is a good example, but is it a good buy?
Maybe. But not at the $18 million asking price. Let’s dig in…
KEY INFO
Built: 2016
Last sold: 2005 for $3,740,000
Architect: Aidlin Darling
Builder: Cello Madru
For Sale Price: $18,000,000
Size: 4,185
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
First, let’s talk about the style. It’s awesome. You just don’t see concrete like this in San Francisco. Walk down this block and you’ll see how unique this place is. I mean just consider how ugly the average building is in this city. 2626 is a sight for sore eyes. The architect, Aidlin Darling, does wonderful work. They have another property for sale in Belvedere which is amazing as well.
Again this is not a spec-home. This was custom, owner-built construction. So expect the quality to be a lot higher. We really can’t stress this enough: there is a massive difference between a developer spec-build, and an owner custom-build. The finishing quality of 2626 is impressive.
As far as the view goes, it’s on the correct side of the street (north side), and on the correct side of the block (central-east side). In this area, to take full advantage of the Bay view, you pretty much have to be on the north side of the street. And if you want good perspective of the Golden Gate Bridge, you want to be on the east side of the block (so your view angle of the bridge looks over the lowest part of the Northern rooftops).
The slope from Filbert to Greenwich is one of the steepest in the area. As such, homes like 2626 enjoy a fairly unobstructed view over the rooftops of the Greenwich homes. It’s a much lower view angle of the Bay – you’re almost at eye-level with the Palace of Fine Arts – some people really enjoy this more intimate perspective. At 2626, you will notice that the Bridge view is not as poppy as homes that are higher up.
Another thing to note: once you get this low, you’ve got a shallow angle on the Bay. This reduces the complexity of what you can see; it’s more two dimensional. In the below composite, notice how the Bay is just a blue sliver. If you compare this with the views of homes just a few blocks to the south, there is a substantial difference.
Looking at the floorplan, the master bedroom is on the south side of the house. This is unusual for this area. Typically, the main bedroom would have the view, and be on the quieter side of the house. Here, they’ve compromised this so they could get the double height window on the view-side. This is cool, but for $18 million, it’s a shame to have such a compromised master bedroom. The rest of the bedrooms are also dispersed across a very vertical 4 floors, which pretty much requires that you either have adult guests, or fully grown children.
One of the most unique features of the house, is the cantilevered office which is suspended above the living area. Is this is bug or a feature? To us, it’s awkward. How are you supposed to get work done when you’re exposed to the sounds of the main living area below? If you’re on a call, everyone can hear you downstairs! It’s a neat idea, but in practice we don’t think this is a very functional office. It also detracts from the perceived volume of the main living room below – so while you do have double ceiling height, you also have an unnecessary platform above half of the room.
There are no photos of the roof deck, but based on the floorplan, and where this house is, it’s safe to assume that it’s really amazing. If we find photos, we’ll update this post.
HISTORY
Looking at the permit history, a demolition permit was filed in 2007. A series of permits were filed after that and it was completed in 2016. This is a long build! It’s possible it was completed in stages, but still…it was a 9 year project and the owner lived in it for 4 years. Why would you sell?!
The duration of this project is something to consider. If you are considering a project like this, are you ready to devote 9 years before you fully enjoy it? A casual glance at the planning documents reveals the owners had to deal with plenty of neighborhood pushback:
It’s impressive they were able to fully tear down the existing structure and build anew. Especially in this neighborhood. For that reason alone, this property definitely is something special. But is it worth $18 million? Let’s quickly cover some of our concerns.
CONCERNS
One of the biggest downsides here is the lot’s width. The house is 28’ wide, which is very thin. Maybe not by comparison to the average house, but when you’re paying north of $10 million, lot width should be a consideration. Here you aren’t getting anything special and that’s a bummer.
Lot width affects the floorplan, and in this case, we have a very vertical layout as a result of the lot’s constraints. The master bedroom is at the top and is all by itself. If you’ve got young kids, this basically a non-starter.
The rumor is, the owner was single when he built it, and is married with kids now. Take a look at the floorplan and you’ll see why they need to move. This place is not built for kids. The master bedroom is on its own floor, with the next closest bedroom two floors below. This does not work for a family. So if you’re single, or a young couple, this place might make sense. But we do think the floorpan severely limits the market for this place.
Filbert St is also a bit of a question mark. Technically you’ve still got a great view, due to the steep drop-off to Greenwich, but you’re very close to Lombard and this comes with a couple downsides. For one, Lombard is noisy; basically anything within 6 blocks of Lombard is going to hear the traffic noise 24/7. It’s not as bad as living next to a highway, but the low hum of cars is constant. Also, you’ll get a lot more foot traffic off of Lombard when you’re this close.
We will say, this Filbert block is really nice. It’s insanely flat. Probably one of the flattest blocks in the city. This is awesome and really creates a suburban feel when you walk down it. Sure you’re close to the very busy Divisadero thoroughfare, but this part of Filbert isn’t as utilized by comparison. Also, no buses to worry about.
VALUE
The asking price is $18 million. We think this is high. Based on our assessment, this place should be selling for $15 million. Here’s why:
First of all, 2626 is currently asking over $4k/sqft. That is crazy. If we take everything we said above into consideration, we think it should be closer to $3.5/sqft maximum. Yes it’s custom construction, but the thin lot, compromised floorplan and lower location all work against it to some extent.
The best comp is probably 2646 Union. It was also new(er) construction, had a better view from more floors, a much better floorplan, and a much wider lot. It sold for $19,500,000. There are some unique reasons why it sold as low as it did, but still, looking at this comp, it’s hard to see how 2626 Filbert would essentially be the same price.
It’s possible someone comes in at the asking price, but we think there is basically no chance they get their number. A fair price is $15 million. Our prediction is that it goes for something like $15.5-16.
CONCLUSION
For the right buyer, at the right lifestage, this could be the perfect spot. The current price is too steep for its quirky layout, but assuming effective negotiation brings it closer to reality, we like it at the right price.