Having hit the market two months ago for $4,000,000 and boasting $750,000 in upgrades, the asking price for 356 Santana Row #306 was quickly dropped to $3,500,000 after two weeks, and two days ago was dropped to $3,300,000.
And while Santana Row isn’t in San Francisco, it’s a plugged-in tipster that notes its “oh jeeze” San Francisco ties. Or should we say, oh “G’s”…
∙ Listing: 356 Santana Row #306 (4/4) 3,856 sqft – $3,300,000 [306villacornet.com]
∙ Infinity Penthouse Unit 37B: Before And After (And The Budget) [SocketSite]
I knew that G’s HQ for BlueLithium was in Santana Row but didn’t realize that he also owned an apartment there.
Man, talk about being in the right place for a single wealthy guy to hook up dates. Santana Row is mobbed by women dressed to impress (many of whom would be impressed by G’s wealth).
G probably has a couple of flank men with him at all times to pry off the stage 5 clingers.
I wish G kept his terrible taste in San Jose!
$3.3M to live on top of a tacky shopping mall. Sweet.
Don’t worry SJ_Shopper, people in SF pay at least that much to live in properties that open up onto urine-drenched sidewalks.
this is the most ridiculous tacky p.o.s -SERIOUSLY- whom ever purchased (“g” the metro-no-taste-faux-eurotrash-nerd or whomever)and then decorated and spent that kind of money on Home Depot finishes (minus the Viking stove but look at the fridge ??) should have their money taken. It is a crime- really.
every time i see some place that guy owns, i can only think of the following:
because you’re motorin!
what’s your price for flight!
in finding mr. right!
you’ll be alright tonight…
These lifestyle centers are the wave of the future
They aren’t building old fashion malls anymore
You live at the mall now
Rick Caruso down in Los Angeles has become a billionaire creating these “lifestyle” “Community-living-retail-entertainment” centers. The prices he is getting for units so people can live above Banana Republic and Borders are sometimes double what a similar sized unit would sell for only blocks away. I have never been able to figure this trend out.
BTW- there is NO way there has been $700,000 in upgrades.
This is really sad on so many levels.
For all of Faux-tana Row’s various and sundry offenses, I think the developer did a fine job of making the buildings architecturally interesting. And just think how nice it would be to enjoy that balcony during a summer evening without wearing a f-ing winter coat.
Here is the latest Caruso community in Southern California called “Americana”. Rents are on average around $3500, and condos average over $600K.
http://www.americanaatbrand.com/
The architect Aldo Rossi predicted that Americans with money would eventually choose to live in “un-real” worlds similar to Disneyland. He thought Main Street USA was a symbol of the failure of American cities, in that people would pay to ride clean transportation and shop on safe streets all owned by private developers instead of trying to experience or save the real urban enviroments they were fleeing from.
HFS! Americana has a fake cable car and a chandelier hanging over the street?!?! I take it all back! I love my overpriced apartment and human feces and junkie needle strewn streets! I’m running outside right now to kiss a domicile-ly challenged person right now. Wish me crabs!
OOPS. Condo prices at the Americana in GLENDALE (!)? are from $700,000 to over 2 million. And people think San Francisco is expensive? It make’s G’s penthouse with Z Gallery couches and Pottery Barn pillows a bargain.
More chopped pillows! Needs more chopped pillows!
That aside, Santana Row isn’t bad for the people-watching sidewalk cafe scene. I wish there were more outdoor cafes in SF, or something along the lines of Les Rambles. But if I were to live in San Jose I’d try to find something walking distance to the downtown and to Japantown, rather than pay the premium to live at Santana Row.
Does that price include the furnishings? Not that I like them, but I would think that price would have to include the furnishings.
You got that right Delancey, there are plenty of far better and even livlier places in SJ. Downtown offers new condos of similar or better quality and actual real public space. With two new buildings plus the huge developments at Plant 51 and the old Del Monte plant coming online shortly there’s gonna be a glut that could produce bargains. Downtown SJ is way different than it was even 5 years ago and in a good way.
Santana Row is basically a huge shopping mall across the street from a massive shopping mall. Bounded by two freeways and mediocre neighborhoods, there’s nothing much to do except shop and eat.
Don’t forget San Jose has:
1) More people
2) Better proxmity to jobs
3) More jobs
4) A Higher Average Income
It is not unlikly that the economic shift to San Jose will continue and that average home prices there will move above SF for the long term.
We’ll keep our housing cheap and the city for the 3 H’s the Hippies, the Homeless and the Hipsters.
Mark,
San Jose is more than three times the size of SF in land area, so it should have more people. There are more people within 10 miles of SF than there are within 10 miles of SJ. Using that radius, there are also more jobs in the SF area than in the SJ area. Economic shift to SJ? Perhaps to the South Bay, but the VAST majority of jobs in the South Bay are NOT in SJ. Higher average income is a meaningless statistic by municipal boundary.
I do not find Santana Row tacky, I actually find it to be the smartest development in San Jose- Housing over Commercial. The architecture is also very fitting to San Jose and it’s climate. If I lived in SanJo SR would by my first choice.
Not my first choice, but surely the Santana Row mixed use development is a huge improvement over the standard “cookie-cutter homes and strip malls’ suburban development model.
Obviously someone like them and thank goodness we don’t all like the same thing, right?
Milkshake
re Plant 51 in downtown SJ…since Centex booked about a $100m write off when they sold Plant 51 to a vulture group what is it that you expect at the site and at what prices?
this screams G. but still 4MM to live above a mall is not everones cup of tea. I dont see why G isnt just keeping this as his SJ pied a terre. That would be what most millionaires would do. Someone find out what he paid for it when they opened. That will be a curious comp to know about…
ryan
From some records, assessor, one would conclude that $2,500,000 in 11/05 was a possible purchase price, not being sure if any ‘upgrades’ included in price and probably no personal property (furniture, etc.)
it sounds like the 750k in upgrades includes all furnishings as well as all the flat screen TV’s… obviously the structure of the place has not been upgraded at all from what I can tell…
I finally made it down to this fabled Santana Row a couple of months ago. Nice enough place for high end shopping or getting a bite to eat or drink in warm weather, but correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed like the whole thing was only two blocks long. Lots of fuss over a tiny little piece of real estate if you ask me.
Miles- I agree- SR is really small and seems very out of place! If I lived here I would never leave these 2 blocks, otherwise I’d be in San Jose 🙂
Was this place furnished by Bobby Trendy?
the website still says that it’s offered at $4M.
if this is G’s place it’s 10000000000x better than his other monstrosity. and $4M is a bargain for an authentic Italian villa. What? that’s not an authentic Italian villa?
ROFL. I travel a lot and this must be the new style of suburban development. There are exact replicas of these all over the country. And I mean that… exact. it’s humorous that multimillionaires in the Bay Area live like people just out of college in the midwest.
A street usually 2-4 blocks long and usually 1-2 blocks wide with shops on first floor and condos above. stop signs on every block so traffic moves slowly. then parking lots usually flank the outside of the area. It’s like a double strip mall faced inwards… or like an open air mall that happens to have condos on top.
I always wonder: in 100 years will people look at this type of development and think it’s quirky and unique and has character? kind of like my 99 year old house. my house currently has character and charm and all that (10 ft ceilings, 16 inch baseboards, 12 inch crown moulding, curved archways, but is also drafty and crooked etc). but I”m sure 99 years ago this was the new “mcmansion” style… with this exact same of house all over the neighborhood.
so maybe it just hasn’t been enough time for people to think of the current crop of buildings to have “character”. for instance: mid century modern buildings often are considered to have character, but 1970-1990’s architecture in general does not. maybe a place needs to be 60 years old before it’s considered to have character?
santana row blows. the chicks and gold diggers, if that’s your thing go for it…but realize you’re living in man jose. for that price you could be a pretty sick pad in SF…and yes, you would not be living in a shopping complex. what a joke.
“it’s humorous that multimillionaires in the Bay Area live like people just out of college in the midwest.”
INDEED!
This is what those who have not left “the bubble” in a while fail to understand. Some here walk around in superior smugosity for having the good taste to live in the Bay Area, but more and more people I run into fail to understand the housing value we get for our money. Sure visitors are in awe of certains aspects of Bay Area life, but many now feel it is not worth the cost. Not everyone wants a Biotech career, some people want to choose more normal career paths. My brother is a doctor and left the Bay Area so he could “afford a home”. He chose Chicago and seems very happy with his lifestyle there, since Peet’s has a store in his neighborhood(Lincoln Park) so his San Francisco coffee addiction can continue.
I am sure there are plenty of people who find SF City Hall tacky (and still do) as it is just a knock of of French Renaissance architecture. I find it beautiful though, as I’m not that cynical.
Mark
Consider San Jose is about the only city in the US of any decent size which has a smaller daytime population indicating that the jobs really aren’t in San Jose
Are you sure the huge area (which is somewhat arbitrary) that calls itself San Jose has more jobs than SF?
SF grows each day by 21.7% while San Jose shrinks by 5.6%
Other cities that grow during the day: Pretty much any city anyone even thinks of as being a “city” in the US
those that shrink
Mesa city, AZ
Virginia Beach city, VA
Arlington city, TX
Aurora city, CO
Long Beach city, CA
San Jose is a very unique case and really not much of a city at all IMO but rather a massive post WWII connection of edge cities and suburban neighborhoods with rather arbitrary borders
Also 76.9 SF residents work in SF
49.6 of those who live in San Jose
For comparison
91.5 In NYC
81.0 in Houston
70.6 in chicago
73.8 in Seattle
All from the last census
I just don’t understand why this place doesn’t have a circular bed covered in red velvet with faux leopard throw and a mirrored ceiling.