A few readers tipped us off to the fact that The Infinity has updated their website to include all 42 floor plans and condo specs. We’re quite enamored with the master suite (and dressing room) in residence 37B; and we can definitely appreciate one “plugged in” reader’s choice in floor plans. (Don’t forget our invitation to the housewarming.)
∙ The Infinity: A Study In Contrast [SocketSite]
∙ The Clock Is Ticking For A Reader [SocketSite]
I don’t think they are accurate (at least building C isn’t). Either that or I got a major deal 😉
These floorplans are much better than the standard shoe boxes currently available throughout the city. It is nice to see that some thought and design went into the spaces and I like the fact that many units have more than one balcony space (unlike some projects that offer no outside space at all).
Balcony space is a definite plus. Infinity does a good job with it’s balconies on the midrises and upper floors in the towers. And with 42 plans to choose, there’s something for everyone.
I personally like the spectacular corner units in the towers with it’s 90 degree curved pano window views. They will have some of the widest and best city/water/bridge views around…
“We’re quite enamored with the master suite (and dressing room) in residence 37B.”
Who wouldn’t be? Any idea how much this unit is going/went for and what it’s square footage is approximately?
[Editor’s Note: We remember hearing that it went into contact for over $5M, and according to the site it’s ~3,355 sqft.]
Scratch that on the square footage…I missed that at the bottom.
Morgan, I agree with you. Infinity certainly has some unique floorplans not found in other ‘cookie cutter’ developments out there. It’s nice the see the varieties they present. The corner units with it’s curved windows and 28A above with the extra long balcony are especially eye catching.
I love the building but to get one with a balcony costs a fortune and no one bedrooms have balconies. Oh well.
I apologize in that the one bedroom plans are more typical of product available in San Francisco and are not very imaginative. But the Tower Plans are really very well done! The corner units will be quite dramatic, especially the way you enter the units from a diagonal hallway into a very large great room with views amd light. The design of the tower plans offer a buyer a more desirable alternative to units in more established neighborhoods and buildings in the city.
“[Editor’s Note: We remember hearing that it went into contact for over $5M, and according to the site it’s ~3,355 sqft.]”
A recurring phrase keep buzzing through my brain….”whatever the market will bear.”
Wow, that’s just insane.
With all due respect to your reverence for 37B, who was the idiot that designed the floorplan so that the two bedrooms were right on top of each other.
I’ve never ever understood that when looking at luxury high-rises. For instance I purchased a 2-2 at “that other development” where the two bedrooms are on completely opposite sides of the unit. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, I would have never bought a 3-3 at this other place because all of the floor plans have the master bedroom right up against another bedroom. Terrible.
[Editor’s Note: Actually, we completely agree with regard to the “sub-optimal” (we just couldn’t resist) location of that second bedroom. That being said, we’d turn the library into a bedroom and use “bedroom 2” as an office. (Not that we’ve been daydreaming about it or anything…)]
“I’ve never ever understood that when looking at luxury high-rises. For instance I purchased a 2-2 at “that other development” where the two bedrooms are on completely opposite sides of the unit. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, I would have never bought a 3-3 at this other place because all of the floor plans have the master bedroom right up against another bedroom. Terrible.”
The corner 2 bedroom units has bedrooms on opposite sides, so does many of the ‘middle’ units. Regarding the 3-3, Socketsite is right, the 2nd bedroom next to the master looks smaller, so I would make that the office. The library on the opposite end looks larger so simply convert that to the 2nd bedroom.
Problem solved! 🙂
“With all due respect to your reverence for 37B, who was the idiot that designed the floorplan so that the two bedrooms were right on top of each other.” Bad Monday?
Looking at the floorplan, I think it makes sense to convert that 2nd bedroom into an office or library. If I was the lucky owner, I’d want easy access from my master to the office. The original library on the opposite end would convert to a guest/2nd bedroom though I would have to build a walk-in closet by putting up some walls (and not tell the HOA 😉 ) The library certainly looks long enough for a walk-in or at least some large dressers.
Looking closer at this floorplan I love how the kitchen and family room is close together creating a informal social area with easy access to the large balcony. Then the Living room is off to the side creating a more elegant atmosphere for formal gatherings.
What are the sales like in this place — how many sold, how many available? Are they having to offer discounts yet, or are they raising prices with each release? I walk by the sales office and it seems dead.
It’s dead everywhere! I walk by all the sales offices in Mission Bay every weekend and none of them have any activity…
About Infinity, last I heard sometime in Dec, they were like 50-60% sold out with all or most of it’s mid/upper floors sold out. Their midrise buildings are selling slower though which is understandable since they’re priced almost the same as the view units in the tower.
“About Infinity, last I heard sometime in Dec, they were like 50-60% sold out..”
Why so slow to sell out? Price points?
“The corner 2 bedroom units has bedrooms on opposite sides, so does many of the ‘middle’ units. Regarding the 3-3, Socketsite is right, the 2nd bedroom next to the master looks smaller, so I would make that the office. The library on the opposite end looks larger so simply convert that to the 2nd bedroom.
Problem solved! :-)”
I have no quibble with the suggestions above for accommodating this floor plan layout. I think they are all novel and would probably work. But my point was that for $5MM I shouldn’t have to be that creative in coming up with a way to mitigate what is otherwise a terribly conceived floor plan layout, at least with respect to the bedrooms.
Sorry to be such a stickler, but it’s $5MM, not $500K.
“I shouldn’t have to be that creative in coming up with a way to mitigate what is otherwise a terribly conceived floor plan layout, at least with respect to the bedrooms.”
Creative?? That was so easy and obvious to solve, my nephew could’ve have suggested it (and he’s 4!) The layouts in the website are only suggestions. Sure a master is a master, but it’s really up to the buyer to decide which is an office and which is a guest bedroom (or library, entertainment center, etc…). Spend 5MM, you should have the right to decide.
Also, if someone is really going to decorate and layout their unit based exactly on what’s on the developer’s website, then I suggest he/she hire a interior designer!
Creative?? That was so easy and obvious to solve, my nephew could’ve have suggested it (and he’s 4!) The layouts in the website are only suggestions. “Sure a master is a master, but it’s really up to the buyer to decide which is an office and which is a guest bedroom (or library, entertainment center, etc…). Spend 5MM, you should have the right to decide.
Also, if someone is really going to decorate and layout their unit based exactly on what’s on the developer’s website, then I suggest he/she hire a interior designer!”
This guy could sell snow to eskimos. If you can afford a $5MM condo at the Infinity, it’s likely that you can afford to a million more somewhere else and in that case, I have two words for you, “990” and “Green.”
Man, you are really reaching to justify buying 37B for $5MM. Are you the owner? If so, then your comments would make sense.
Whoever the buyer is probably doesn’t really care what they paid (as much as we do) since they’re in the megarich category and probably use it as a second home (and we don’t know what it really went into contract for). Anybody buying in that category will probably end up remodeling it or maybe even taking it as a shell and designing it to their liking.
More power to them I say!
And I frankly think the floorplan is pretty spectacular!
“Anybody buying in that category will probably end up remodeling it or maybe even taking it as a shell and designing it to their liking.
More power to them I say!”
“And I frankly think the floorplan is pretty spectacular!”
No, these two statements are not at odds with one another. If it needs remodeling or even more extreme, being made into a shell, then does it even have a floor plan to begin with?
Victor MacFarlane bought three top floor penthouses of the St Regis for 30MM as a shell. At 15,000sqft total, he’s looking at $2000/sqft for a shell!
Before he bought those units, St Regis had a floorplans drawn up for those units. It’s all part of the marketing. Whether they follow their floorplan and layout is all up to the owners…
http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/11/focus5.html
[Editor’s Note: Rumors have pegged the additional cost of build out/configuration for MacFarlane at ~10MM.]
“Victor MacFarlane bought three top floor penthouses of the St Regis for 30MM as a shell. At 15,000sqft total, he’s looking at $2000/sqft for a shell!
Before he bought those units, St Regis had a floorplans drawn up for those units. It’s all part of the marketing. Whether they follow their floorplan and layout is all up to the owners…”
That’s incredible. But my overall point remains, if a the buyer chooses to hollow out a brand new condo and redo it, by definition, the original floor plan probably can’t fall into the category of “spectacular.” BUT……I will admit……different strokes for different folk. Maybe another buyer wouldn’t touch a thing. But if it were me, the first thing I’d do to 37B is reconfigure the floor plan so that the master bedroom is fairly isolated from the rest of the living space.
You can only take a new development “as a shell” if you are paying all cash – i.e. no mortgage. Mortgages require a completed unit as collateral. And I don’t know if you can get a construction loan for building out an unfished condo. Don’t think so.
Anyway the unit plans are required for approvals and for getting building permits. If the developer is willing and if you put enough money in up front, it might be possible for your architect to design the interior layout and for the city to approve that as a change to the originally approved drawings. This may be what the buyer at the St Regis did. In any case it requires significant amounts of cash.
I’ve been told the developer of the Watermark was approached by someone with the same idea but turned them down.
Re 37B. In many ways it’s a pretty nice plan. Nobody serious about buying it will be concerned about how the spaces are labled. They will use them as they see fit. Someone who needs assistance might actually like the proximity of the second bedroom.
There are certainly things to crtiticize about it, though. For one thing, at $5MM you start to expect two master baths (not just two sinks) and the bath for the putative 2nd bedroom is just too far off to serve that second bathroom role. This is difficult to fix. Adding new plumbing is not necessarily easy in high rise condos. For one thing, toilet locations are cast in concrete. Because they require sanitary drains, you can’t move them and you can’t add any new ones.
I could go on, but really the worst thing about the unit is what the view from the master bedroom will be like once the second tower is built. Ouch. It will look right into the huge curved window of another unit!
“It’s dead everywhere! I walk by all the sales offices in Mission Bay every weekend and none of them have any activity…
About Infinity, last I heard sometime in Dec, they were like 50-60% sold out”
In fact only about 40% of the 1st tower were “confirmed” up till two weeks ago. This is actually not as bad as it may seem given that many people are simply sitting around for other places’ 1st or 2nd releases. However, if numbers don’t pick up at Infinity in the next few months, things’ll start getting interesting.
Just checked my notes again. “1/3 of the first tower” was actually what they told me that was sold. So my guess is 25-30% “confirmed” with deposits?
Those sales seem slow. Particularly if the 2 midrise buildings aren’t selling as fast as the 1st tower. Are buyers are to negotitate any incentives (i suspect they won’t be reducing prices yet)? I was thinking of checking out the mid-rise, since I know I could afford the highrise. Any suggestions on 2 bedroom layout and pricing?
Where are you getting your numbers? I’m still getting 50%+ sold from the developer. That 50% is probably the tower. I doubt the midrises are 50% sold, probably closer to 30-40%… Infinity is still pricing kind of high and are not budging much on pricing so I can see them holding out longer. Having said that I’ve heard that Dec was strong for them and things should pick up in spring after the long holiday season…
Given the state of the market, their numbers are not bad compared to other developments in the city that are only ~20% sold…
Some people here made some pretty good inputs for a fellow reader in an earlier thread in terms of how far buyers should aim for in negotiation at Infinity. Those numbers can be stretched further, I think. But the smartest thing to do right now is what many others are doing, that is simply sit and wait. Remember Infinity is NOT one of those places where getting in early would get you a much better deal. Otherwise they would’ve sold way more than just 30%. Think about it, they have a whole other bigger building to sell, and with more competition coming up such as the Millennium tower, buyers will only be in higher ground to battle for a fair or even a good deal.
Another thing is a member in my investment group just found out that Infinity is also on the drawing board making room for different selections of kitchen cabinets and flooring as STANDARD for the second tower because many people walked away with their deposits after seeing what a poor job they did with their appliances. Some here said before that people wouldn’t care, well, the reality says otherwise. Don’t bother asking the sales office about this either because they’ll deny. But we know it’s coming. People who are waiting for the second tower should be happy to hear this. Hope this helps.
“Where are you getting your numbers?”
That I can’t answer. I’m sure the developer is watching this thread closely and some of the posts above are added by them. My numbers could be wrong, only if they sold an unbelievable amount in the last 3 weeks. Is it possible? Sure, anything is. But is it really?
I personally think the Infinity deserves more love from the buyers. It is very successful on the design end. I say this with years of design background. But they chose to market it and price it completely different from the other project 3 blocks away. The odds were against them and very much still are.
I think Infinity’s location may be it’s saving grace. It’s a block from the waterfront and the bayfront walkway. I don’t think there’s any other highrise development that close to a ‘developed’ waterfront (so Watermark doesn’t count).
Infinity’s problem is it’s marketing and it’s kitchen cabinetry/flooring. The buildings itself are turning out quite nice! Also, Infinity’s pricing is too high to start with, though I think anyone that got a unit on the 25th floor or higher at ~$1000/sqft or less will do ok…
Absolutely. At some point, even their marketing team told the developer that they are overpricing themselves. The developer simply said we don’t need that much marketing effort and we’ll stay overpriced because we are big. Unfortunately buyers don’t buy a home because of the size of the developer. The message couldn’t be clearer with how buyers responded to Infinity and its direct competitor. But so far they choose to ignore it. Well, at least they are upgrading kitchen and appliances for the second tower. Call it a late start.
Thanks for the thoughts. When I looked before, the midrise 2 bedrooms were just about $800 sq/ft. If they will offer better cabinets and flooring as Anon suggests on the new tower, without raising prices, it seems better to wait and see if they offer that on the unsold midrises. The thing I like about the 2 bedrooms in the midrises were they seem more functional — although i love the curved glass, it seems like the furniture layout could be more clumsy. It’s hard to know until I could walk inside the units; any idea on when that will be?
Completion of the first tower is early 08, though they seem to be ahead of schedule. The second tower won’t go on the market till the first tower is sold out (or at least 90-95% sold out) and residence moved in. So the earliest the second tower will open to sales is sometime in 08.
Since most of the complaints are about cabinets and flooring, how much to upgrade the cabinets? Having bought luxury condos before in Vegas and NY, the cabinet upgrade will run anywhere from 1-3k. Upgrading from carpet to hardwood or tile will run 2-5k. So instead of spending 1,200,000 for a 2 bedroom, upgrading the cabinets and flooring will cost you 1,208,000. To me that’s not a big deal, and there’s no guarantee the second tower is be priced the same as the first. Even it’s it’s price just 25k over the first tower, seems upgrading the first tower is a better financial move unless we know for sure the 2nd tower is be priced less (which I doubt because of it’s better views)…
I have taken a tour of the condominiums in the Infinity. I was impressed by the floor plans and designs. I also inquired about remodeling the units and even connected two units together into a condo coop. The only concern I have is the area. The neighboring streets will need to be improved with attractive parks, a supermarket, restaurants, dry cleaners and other convenient services. The area will also need to give families a sense of safety and security in the surrounding area. The building is great, but people will be paying for a great location. Right now, the location ranks a B+.