Lennar to open Hunters Point Shipyard sales office in spring

It took 10 years, but home buyers looking to own a piece of San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard will get their chance this spring.

Lennar Urban said Friday that the first homes available in the redevelopment at the former military base — Lennar recently rebranded it as San Francisco Shipyard — will be priced from the low $500,000s for a one-bedrooms and from the high $500,000s for two bedrooms. That is well below the $1,000 a square foot condos are selling for in neighborhoods like Hayes Valley and Lower Pacific Heights.

Sheryl McKibben, vice president of sales and marketing for Lennar Urban, said that the developer will open two sales offices, one in downtown San Francisco and one out at the site. McKibben said the offices would have plenty of interactive technology with historical information about the shipyard as well as marketing material about the homes.

Mayor Ed Lee held his state oft he city speech at the shipyard this morning, a nod to the fact that the city is facing rapidly escalating housing prices that is driving many middle class families out of San Francisco. Eventually the shipyard will have more than 10,000 new housing units. During the speech the mayor committed to developing strategies for producing more affordable housing, with a focus on preserving existing housing and raising the minimum wage to close the gap between people’s income and rising rents.

“Stabilizing our existing community has been a key priority for me. As housing prices increase to record levels we are seeing low and middle income residents– even families making up to $120,000 a year– being squeezed out of the housing market,” said District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim. “By introducing a mechanism to ensure affordable housing production for a broad range of our residents, we can make real strides in the fight to keep San Francisco livable.”

The units come on line at a time when the city has just 134 new condos for sale, including 55 at Linea (1998 Market St.) and 10 at Marlow (1800 Van Ness.) Those projects are both about $1,000 a square foot, close to double the pricing that Lennar will command at the Shipyard. Three projects recently sold out: the 63-unit 300 Ivy St. ($1,050 a square foot); the 35-unit Blanc ($860 a square foot), and the 132-unit Candlestick Cove, which at $450 a square foot is closer to the Hunters Point pricing.

“Hopefully we will be signing contracts in May and have the first move ins in Q3,” said McKibben.

The first 25 units are townhouses with private parking garages. All the units have either private balconies or patios. Half of them have sweeping downtown views The complex sits next to a new park. “They are spectacular —I can’t wait to get people out there,” she said.

The next phase is a condo development with 63 units over a common garage. That phase will have a community roof deck with views of the city.

J.K. Dineen covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

J.K. Dineen
Reporter-
San Francisco Business Times