Having been expanded, rebuilt and remodeled, the now 4,822-square-foot view home at 367 Liberty Street, which is technically a two-unit building with a one-bedroom “guest unit” on the home’s first floor and an elevator that runs from the ground-floor, three-car garage to the fourth-floor family room and roof decks, with stops between, sold for $8.7 million in July of 2019.
Now vacant, with “walls, ceilings, and decks [that have been] opened for investigative purposes,” the “mega VIEW residence” has just returned to the market listed as an “AS IS” sale with a $4.495 million price tag, positioned as a “FIXER” and “dream opportunity,” with “disclosure materials [that] contain detailed information pertaining to…construction defects” and noting that it would be “in the buyer’s best interest to conduct their own inspections and diligence as well as consult with qualified construction professionals and legal counsel.”
We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.
Well that sounds ominous.
Flippers from Glendale? At least that’s my scarce findings from looking up the LLC behind it. Who wants to peel the onion more? There’s an LLC behind the LLC’s mailing address… Would not touch this with a ten foot pole
Also, plenty of lawsuits, and an arbitration after a (now failed?) re-sale last year?
Looks like 365 and 367 Liberty were rebuilt at the same time, and the structural engineering firm responsible for the project boasts of “easy access to the Building Department which equates to quicker and better service for our clients.” (see name link)
Shall we place bets on which corrupt DBI inspector signed off on this project? My money is on good ol’ Rodbigo Santos.
Rodrigo Santos was not a DBI inspector.
Yeah how can they drag Santos’ good name through the mud /s. The dream team that got busted:
Inspector: Bernie Curran
Expediter: Rodbigo Santos
I will take any all bets for any dollar figure that Rodrigo Santos was the the DBI inspector.
So who’s on the hook for the roughly $4-5 million loss?
lots of documents to dig through in the lawsuit case file (name link)
case number is 585337 in sf superior court (or CGC20585337)
Thanks for that, I agree that there are a whole lot of legal filings going on with this one.
Looks like a whole lot of people and companies are involved here and some of them have requested and paid the fees for a jury trial, so if that actually happens we’ll get lots of juicy details.
And once someone buys it, at least under the terms described in the current listing, it’s game over and the current seller(s) win by closing out all pending legal issues and it’s the buyer’s responsibility to fix everything that was glossed over during the expansion, rebuilding and remodeling. There are just too many flippers in this town.
I suspect the house that this monstrosity replaced (does the elevator open into the lower level unit only after a key is presented?) would have been better off with one of those “light touch flips” that certain people in the S.F. real estate “game” insist don’t happen in San Francisco.
Scratch that second sentence, the “winner” was the person or entity who unloaded this for $8.7 million in July of 2019.
isn’t the person who sold it for $8.7M the flipper?
Looks like it. Which is why I retracted part of my previous comment.
I’ve heard of building inspectors ordering tearing into foundations literally if structures are not entirely permitted (where bar the r-bar, etc). Then too from what I’ve gleaned on Netflix at times drug lords stash money and such in home walls (laundry is a chore). I’m guessing stuff here wasn’t fully permitted.
The “…and such” angle is a He**-of-lot more interesting than the R-values having been fudged. Maybe it should be advertised as “possible ski lodge” (Wink, wink)
The attorneys are going to enjoy this flip.
i really like the fusion of Brutalist and sleek modern Euro in/out
maybe this house and the Sea Cliff house could have a child that would grow up to be the spec mansion that got caught at the top of the market
Google Street View (from May of this year) is showing some pretty extreme staining on the stone veneer around the garage door. Enough to imply to me that water is collecting behind the veneer and seeping out. In fact the staining was present as early as 2020. and So that’s at least one defect.
To me it looks more like water (simply) draining off the porch and running down the facade. But yes, it’s certainly unsightly: probably a poor selection of materials (I believe limestone is notious for leaching minerals – i.e. effloresence – if that’s what it is)
The listing read bizarre, “FIXER”…expanded and newly renovated in 2019”
Well, once you have even a arms-length understanding of what went on (or at least with what is alleged in the complaint) with the the expansion, rebuilding and remodeling that happened in 2019, the listing copy makes sense.
This could wind up being a tear down, not a fixer. The buyer better have both deep pockets and the hard-nosed negotiating skills necessary to discount the property to account for the issues surrounding it.
The original complaint, Luminous Ion LLC Vs. Vicki Chiao Et. Al. (tip of the hat to ‘steve’, above for the link) is interesting reading, even if it’s incomplete (it’s been amended since):
Emphasis mine. Obviously, we are well beyond January 1, 2021 and the litigation is ongoing, and this just for 367 Liberty St.; there’s separate pending litigation around 365 Liberty as well. IANAL but I don’t think the LLC is going to shield Ms. Chiao’s personal assets in this case.
How could a house be so poorly built that they manage to get so much wrong? Heating, plumbing, electrical, foundation, water intrusion, structural . . . really, what else is there that could go wrong?Is it sliding down a hill?
Seriously!!
I almost bought this place (pre-teardown) in 2013. Listed at $1.4M, I ended up at a $1.9M offer, and was beaten out by the $2.2M cash & no-contingency offer of the developer who flipped it for $8.7 in 2019.
I recall signs of fairly high volume seasonal artisan flows, with obvious signs of significant and persistent moisture intrusion into the existing foundations, and the lot slope being over 40′ front to back. It’s a shame they put such a soulless and poorly executed flip on it though… really lovely location.
fairly high volume seasonal artisan flows
Ever since those darn beatniks in the 50’s this has been a plague on SF; locking your doors, of course is the best defense, but if they come into your yard….
What ?? Oh, sorry: I guess you meant “artesian flows”
This site needs an upvote mechanism.
Can I nominate this for a best/worst of SocketSite award?
maybe they can build a correct house on top of this one and call this one the irregular in-law unit or greatly expanded garage with storage and high ceilings?