Millennium Tower, San Francisco: A walkthrough, a few photos, a little scoop, and my opinion

For those of you that read this San Francisco real estate blog on a regular basis, you’ll know I’ve been watching the progress of many of the new developments around town. One of my favorites happens to be Millennium Tower (301 Mission). Not because I’ve sold many units there, but because it truly stands out (and above) from the others.

(Yes, that is the Infinity you see way down there, and this shot is only from the 26th floor.)

Don’t get me wrong, I love the other new developments (towers) as well, and I’d love to show any of you around all of the buildings, because they all have their attractions, but Millennium Tower just seems to have that vibe. That…je ne sais quoi…It seems like it will have the same high end/high net worth residents (at least one penthouse in contract at +$10 million and….damn I want to tell you more, but promised not to) as those in the St. Regis, but twice as many amenities at half the dues…not to mention a Michael Minna restaurant. The Infinity feels much more Hard Rock Hotel meets San Francisco (not a bad thing at all), and One Rincon Hill with the dazzling views, just doesn’t have the location (trust me, I’ve had several clients turn away from the location) to put it in the same class as St. Regis and Millennium Tower, not to mention the uncertainty of Tower Two.

I must say I am a bit disappointed with the ranges, and islands in the kitchens at the Millennium, and that some units don’t have deeded parking, but those are easy enough to remedy. The building is solid, and the finishes are very high end. The views are extraordinary, the location is getting better, and the amenities are through the roof. The units are still selling very quickly and many owners losing their money in the stock market have bought multiple units here, so all signs still point to a successful development by Millennium Partners, and I can’t wait until they start moving people in.

(Penthouse terrace views.)

There are still some very choice units available at the Millennium and several at many other developments around town. I haven’t heard of any negotiations or price incentives at Millennium Tower, but I know some of the other developments around town have been offering them up, and the “off market” trading that is going on at many of them is nothing short of extraordinary.

I have more photos, and a lot more details, but you’ll have to contact me if you’d like to learn more.

Millennium Tower: A “First Look” inside

If you’ve kept up with this site, you should be getting a grasp of what’s happening with Millennium Tower. Sales have been brisk, construction is moving along, the views are incredible, and now the inside:

Anyone fancy a bath (insert British accent here).

Very nice finishes.

Views from a corner 1 bedroom unit.

Of course we have more photos! But that’s all you get right now. If you can’t wait, or have more questions, you know what to do.

-All things Millennium Tower [theFrontSteps]

Millennium Tower, Topping off again (we’re talking mid-rise)

Again, we posted this on the new .org and we’re ironing out the kinks. There are soooo many more ways to get involved than this typical top down (we post, you comment) structure of the blog here. There is a forum, each member can have their own blog, you can upload photos, files, video, and do so much more. It’s intense. But if you insist on reading your tFS porn here, this is an example of what you’re missing there:

Yes, we said it…topping off, and you’re probably wondering, “What the heck (f-bombs okay too) are they talking about? Millennium Tower topped off a long time ago. Right you are, but we’re talking about the mid-rise building.

Floorplan (pdf)
There are only 53 of these units total, we’re told they’re “selling well”, and we can’t figure out why they haven’t sold out (hold your cooling market comments). These are very large, open, high ceilinged units that (in our opinion) offer something unique from the rest of the developments in town. We heart all the new devs, but there is something about these units in particular that caught our eye.
If you happen to be browsing their website, plan on ~$1000/square foot for these units (if memory serves correctly), and go for the corners, they’re sweet!

Millennium Tower: Dem some views, eh?

Since we’re on the subject of Millennium Tower, and their apparent record price per square foot, we thought we’d share some more good stuff.

We know, we know… you’ve seen the daytime views from the top of Millennium Tower in the papers, on other blogs, and everywhere else in between, but we all know the true partyers come out at night. Right?

Views towards Berkeley/Oakland (East)

Views towards Marin (Northwest)

Views towards San Jose (South/Southeast)

You can rest assured those views are from, or close to, the top.

Cocktails!!!!

Is Millennium Tower setting records?

Right when we’re about to fill you all in as to some records the Millennium might be setting (we’re talking price per square foot of an empty shell sold), the Chronicle goes and scoops us (at least we know they’re working). Not to fear, if you’ve been reading theFrontSteps for a while you would have known about this penthouse sale way back in November when we said,

one of those sales is a 60th floor penthouse unit that happens to be 645 feet above ground, with ~4700 square feet of empty shell (meaning the owner can do with the interior as they please), a 580 square foot terrace, views to die for (more on that later), and a $10-12M price tag, or more than $2,000 per square foot. Whether it is true, and whether it is $10M or $12M… we leave to your imagination

Regarding that record, if memory serves our sources correctly, the developer of the Four Seasons sold a unit in shell condition (5700 square feet) for $10M about 6 years ago. That is $1,754 per square foot. Perhaps a more current comparable, but not as high was the 3 units together at the St. Regis, penthouse, with terraces surrounding that sold for $27M and contained 17,000 square feet, or a price per square foot of $1,588.

So if the Millennium penthouse sold for $2,288 per square foot, is that not a record?

-Millennium rising and selling rather quickly [theFrontSteps]

Millennium Tower 51st Floor Picture

You know we have Millennium Tower wired (literally and figuratively). How else do you think we got this picture of the views from the 51st floor on such a nice day?

We’ve also been told construction is up to the 52nd floor. There are some fabulous units still available, and we have to say, the “City Residences” get our vote.

As for the picture above, we’re guessing the views from this “C” unit below (2 bed, 3.5 bath, 2819 sqft.) might look something like that, and the price will be upwards of $3M…if not more (try $4M), a lot more, but we’re just guessing, so don’t quote us on that.

And to answer the inevitable, no we are not on the sales staff. We just happen to get excited about sweet property like this and all the other places we talk about.

-Millennium Rising…and Selling Rather Quickly [theFrontSteps]

Ask Us: Terraces at Millennium Tower?

Where readers ask, and we try to answer:

Other than the penthouses, do any of the condos in the Millennium Tower have outdoor spaces, i.e. terraces/balcony? Thanks.-BD

Yes, there are six homes with terraces on the third floor.The six available homes with terraces range in price from approx. $895,000 to approx. $2.7M.

The other Penthouse with outdoor space currently available is on the [keeping our word and not publishing this to the public.] The price point anywhere from approximately $10M – $12M, and it is a “shell”. Meaning you can build whatever floor plan you desire.

-Millennium Rising and Selling Rather Quickly [theFrontSteps]
-Ask Us [theFrontSteps]

Glassing Off: Downtown and a Bottle of Windex

Following on the heels of our latest post on Millennium Tower, today’s Chronicle/SF Gate provides the latest on all the glass going up on many of the other buildings we’ve featured. Have a look at this audio slideshow by John King of the SF Chronicle.

And of course, feel free to share your thoughts.

-One Rincon Hill Posts [theFrontSteps]
-The Infinity Posts [theFrontSteps]
-Millennium Tower Posts [theFrontSteps]
-audio slideshow [SF Gate]
-Newest Towers Will Give SF Skyline a Touch of Glass [SF Chronicle/John King]

Millennium Rising…and Selling Rather Quickly

There have been a lot of unconfirmed rumors flying around regarding Millennium Tower, so we thought we’d visit the sales office, call a few reliable sources, get some confirmations, start another rumor, and give you the scoop on the latest with Millennium Tower.

First, to ease your doubts about our market ever seeing $2000/square foot, keep your eyes on this building. Is this the norm for the city? No. But we did say it is possible. For the record, they do have units priced in the $900/square foot range as well, so don’t get scared away.

Second, regarding the Michael Mina restaurant going in the building. It will indeed be named RN74. The restaurant will also be providing services and staff for the Millennium’s private dining area on the club level (Millennium residents only), as well as providing exclusive wine selections to said residents.

Third, there are currently ~60 units of the total 419 “sold” (~13%), and of those, ~80% are beyond the 5 day grace and are now considered “done deals”. Sales have been in all price ranges at all levels. Add to that the sales office has only been open for 12 days, and you see how quickly things are moving.

Fourth, one of those sales is a 60th floor penthouse unit that happens to be 645 feet above ground, with ~4700 square feet of empty shell (meaning the owner can do with the interior as they please), a 580 square foot terrace, views to die for (more on that later), and a $10-12M price tag, or more than $2,000 per square foot. Whether it is true, and whether it is $10M or $12M… we leave to your imagination.

Fifth, yes, most of the sales have been in the “upper floors” or the Grand Residences (floors 26-top) of the tower but that doesn’t mean the City Residences (shorter 11 story building with Tribeca-style lofts) haven’t seen their share of activity as well.

Finally, yes, you need an appointment, and to be pre-qualified with one of their preferred lenders before you will be given the tour.

As you can see, the sky is definitely not falling for San Francisco’s new development high rise luxury real estate. We can categorically, without a shadow of a doubt, tell you that much. We do live in a world class city after all. The rest, true to our word, we’re keeping under wraps.

If you’d like more information, or are considering purchasing a unit at the Millennium, feel free to contact us.

-Millennium Tower [website]
-Millennium Tower Going Up (301 Mission) [theFrontSteps]

Comment du Jour: Does sold mean sold?

Sophie on Millennium Tower…”:

Close of Escrow [for units at the Millennium Tower] is scheduled for Spring of 2009.
I have a question. Close of escrow is when title is given [for] a big chunk of money. Right?
So if they advertise “58% sold” what does that mean? That you can buy an “option” lasting about 18months? What is the cost of an option in % to the total price of the unit?
Is the “option” money in the builder’s pocket in the mean time (I would guess so as he needs money to build the thing).

Please explain – risks, advantages, or anything else related to that type of new development (same goes for the Infinity etc).”

Anyone?

-Millennium Tower going up…” [theFrontSteps]

Millennium Tower going up, and the inside scoop (301 Mission)

This is a poach with permission from sfnewdevelopments.com and our friend Mark Choey. Thanks Mark!

Located on Mission St between Beale and Fremont St near San Francisco’s Financial District and right next to the Transbay Terminal site, the entire project will consist of 419 condos in 2 towers: one at 11 stories and another at 59 stories.

The taller tower will be a 59 story building with 362 total units. It will be the tallest residential condo building west of the Mississippi – even taller than 1 Rincon Hill apparently and the 4th tallest building in San Francisco. It will be separated into several different classes of condos: “The Residences”, “The Grand Residences”, and “The City Residences” and each will be accessible via separate lobbies.

Floors 3-25 will consist of “The Residences” and will feature:

* 191 total condos
* 9 units per floor
* a mix of 1BR’s (80 total), 2BR’s, and 2BR’s + Den

Floors 26th and above are known as “The Grand Residences”:

* The lower 22 floors from the 26th floor to the 48th floors will have 6 units / floor
* 49th floor and above to the penthouses will be 4 units / floor
* The top 2 floors will be exclusive penthouse units with only 2 units / floor
* The 60th Floor will feature two terraces
* All units will either be 2BR/2BA’s, 2BR/3BA’s, 3BR/2BA’s, or 3BR/3BA’s.

The shorter 11 story building is called the “City Residences”:

* Tribeca-style loft spaces ranging in square footage from 1400-2000+ sf
* There will be a total of 53 units in this building:
* 17 one bed/two baths and 36 two bedroom/two baths

Apart from the 5-star hotel service, there are tremendous amenities in this building including a ground-floor celebrity-chef restaurant, a 20000 sf Club Level, a 5500 sf fitness center run by Sports Club LA, a 75 ft lap pool under a skylight right by the courtyard, a tasting room and a wine room that will house a $3M winelist.

339 dedicated parking spots for 419 units means that 80 units will not have deeded parking but leasing plans are currently being worked out – but we feel with this central downtown location and the future of the Transbay Terminal quickly being decided, lack of deeded parking shouldn’t be as much of an issue as it is in other less conveniently located buildings.

Currently pouring concrete on the 42nd floor, they are averaging 1 floor per week. The glass curtain is currently being installed somewhere around the 35th floor.

Close of Escrow is scheduled for Spring of 2009.

And of course, when we finally get in there, we’ll give you our two cents too. Thanks again Mark!

-All things One Rincon Hill [theFrontSteps]
-Transbay Terminal [theFrontSteps]
-Millennium Towers [website]