Positioned as part of “The Penthouse Collection at 8 Octavia,” the modern two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit PH-2 atop the Hayes Valley development sold for $1.5 million or roughly $1,500 per square foot in February of 2020.
The unit is outfitted with floor to ceiling windows, air conditioning, high-end appliances, exposed concrete and a signature galley bath in the main bedroom, along with an EV-charger equipped parking space in the building’s garage.
And having just returned to the market listed for “$999,000,” 8 Octavia PH-2 has been priced for an “over asking!” sale, perhaps with “multiple offers!” as well. If you think you know the market for modern condos in/or Hayes Valley, now’s the time to tell.
The resale of 8 Octavia PH-2 has now closed escrow with a contract price of $1,025,000, which is officially “over asking!” according to all industry stats and aggregate reports but down 31.6 percent ($475K) on an apples-to-apples basis from its value in the first quarter of 2020.
Yikes, this does not sound like a “park-your-money” condo ala Lumina. So this must have really hurt the previous holder… I think new owners got a decent deal, but time will tell. Not my favorite area/condo for sure
I love the micro foyer, all 1/2 sq. ft. of it.
Truly awful building (in a good location) saddled with the never ending traffic noise from Octavia Blvd. Even $999,000 is too much to have to endure the misery of 24/7 noise.
I live in a similar building further out on Market. You’d be surprised what double paned windows will do.
I don’t think this location is all that great though… yet. I could see this stretch of Market actually developing into a sort of cozy neighborhood (more like Castro) as the Van Ness developments get a bit more established. Previously, I think the 101 ramp has been a logical divider of the “good part of Market” from “mid Market and adjacent”.
What a lousy design. To pay a million bucks to live directly above a freeway on ramp and pay high HOA dues. They got a “great” deal, because its simply not for most people.
I have lived in a Stanley Saitowitz Prison before by accident, and NEVER EVER again. I just don’t think he has any practical sense of how people inhabit space. (Ie directly opposite the master bed is a frosted sliding glass door toilet, which offers little privacy and no acoustic separation).
Ron Conway and his puppet Ed Lee brought this upon SF. It’s been a 10 year train wreck.
Brought what, exactly, upon SF?
Covid. That’s definitely Ron Conway’s fault.
You’re being deliberately obtuse. Covid hasn’t been around for ten years, Ron Conway’s had on outsized influence on what S.F.’s priorities have been for that time period and then some.
I’m being deliberate, but not obtuse.
The previous sale was February 2020, which was almost exactly before Covid upended the economy and the real estate market. I believe we are nowhere near the end of the reverberations of Covid. It will continue to affect real estate here and elsewhere for a long time to come.
OUCH. And it doesn’t seem to have been a short sale, so some cold hard cash was lost in this outing. A quick sale too, one month from listing to sale, no contingent, it does sound like the seller really needed to cut and run. I think the buyer(s) got a great deal.
Even though it’s right off the ramp, looks like the unit faces mainly the back and is high up so potentially less noise and more privacy, though would love it if someone who’s actually been to the unit could comment. All the design quirks people point out might be moot if owner lives there alone. Don’t knock the household of one.
Congrats to the buyer. Will be interesting to see if they try to flip it (optimism they had a deal) and whether that is successful or not.
@ Jenofla–You can tell by the view from the window, through the vertical glass louvers, the unit is looking west toward the 1st Baptist church, so its looking at Octavia, and very close to the Market Street intersection. The living room window is in a recess that is 25′ deep, so limited view. The fact that somebody paid a million $ for this is amazing to me and shows how we all have wildly different tastes.
I agree that *in theory* a household of one might not have problems with the bathroom layout … but this household of one doesn’t want to go to bed and wake up every morning staring at a wall whose entirety is taking up with bathroom sliding doors… nor do I want to give up potential layout options or art options (you can never put any furniture against or art on that wall).
I like the building in an offhand way, but the location is terrible. To get to the garage, you have to negotiate your way to the one way separated side lane of the Octavia freeway ramp through a warren of no right turn, no left turn, no turn intersections. The fumes from the backed up traffic are enough to kill this for me, but it also manages to be a steep uphill or downhill walk to anywhere, if you decide to use footpower in this otherwise relatively flat part of town.
But on top of that, this is the worst possible unit layout, with the living spaces pushed back into a shadowy recess purely to articulate the building mass. This unit, the penthouse, at least gets moments of sun, but pity the lower units in this stack that never see the light of day.
Spot on. You’d think that the architect of such a poorly sited building would at least try to compensate with killer floor plans, but they doubled down on awful with this building.
Is there anything colder or less “homey” than cast concrete ceilings and walls? Although I understand that tastes vary, I don’t want to feel like I’m living in an unimproved warehouse or a prison. I also find it convenient to be able to put a nail in the wall when I need to hang something.
I guess the architect and developer really only care about initial sales, and the “hip” exposed concrete was in at the time, but how many people want it now?
Depending on the HOA’s, they got a great deal. Congratulations to the buyers.
The HOA dues are $1,011 per month, according to RedFin, which is reasonable for a unit of this caliber.
I agree they got a great deal, if the buyer actually lives in it and manages to hold on to it for a decent period. If they try and resell it in two or three years, I strongly suspect their buying decision won’t look so good.
Other sources saying SF condo market in “free fall” ?
We bought our condo in February 2020. Were about 9 weeks pregnant and needed an upgrade from our 1 bedroom apartment in north beach. We looked at this unit (I’ve physically been inside it) and decided not to bid on it for several reasons. As others mentioned it’s a very high traffic intersection (not great for a new parent with a stroller), although noise was pretty good, nearly silent with the windows. The main problem was the floorplan; you had one large great room with a weird narrow hallway off the kitchen (creating an L shape), with some very creative floor plan design to squeeze two bedrooms and bathroom using opaque sliding glass doors.
This unit is really a Sr. 1 bedroom. It’s not really suitable as a long term residence for anyone besides a DINK. The other issue is that the glass louvers on the exterior of the building dramatically restrict your view from many areas. It did have a very nice rooftop deck and the lobby was incredible.
We ended up buying an exterior unit in the Beacon over next to the Caltrain station instead for about $1000/sq ft and have been very happy with it