Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Featured Project: The Book Concern Building

New construction in San Francisco can earn the right product $850+/SF. Naturally, developers then want $1,000+/SF, and they usually get there by building up, or building fabulous.

OR, you can build itty-bitty units of an entirely different tact that hit price points not seen since 1998 in San Francisco. You can do what the Book Concern Building did: convince people to live in 270 SF of space just so they can own it. Check out the six remaining units' prices -- especially the 261 SF studio at $1,045/SF. Even if your soft and hard costs put you at $350/SF to build, you're approaching 200% margins (pre-taxes, marketing, sales and other expenses).

At McAllister and 7th, Book Concern calls its location Civic Center, while the SFPD might call it a little more, say, Tenderloin-y. Add to this the building's former career as home to the Church of Scientology and, well, it doesn't seem to have mattered.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have always loved this project--i don't care about price per square foot. can't live in a small home, don't buy one but if there is one thing this (sf) market proves, there is something for everyone. and these units are sexy.

Anonymous said...

Yes, maybe you are right Sacha, but from my perspective charging $1000+ per square foot is just as absurd as this market. I understand that if the market bears it than that is their true value but it seems coercive to me.

Anonymous said...

any project that uses such trendy photog filters breeds skepticism in me. that ladder above in the pic - how do you even use it? it descends right into the wall. seriously, the ultimate insult in SF real estate is to buy half a prison cell for $250,000.