The unfinished 'shells' of two half-floor, two-story San Francisco penthouses are selling for $7.5 m

July 2024 · 4 minute read
2020-01-30T14:13:16Z

The top floor of Lumina's Folsom Street Tower originally went to market in 2015 as a two-story, 15,000 square-foot $49 million penthouse. It would have been San Francisco's biggest condo sale in history if it had sold.

But it didn't. Eventually, "it became clearer that the market may be more receptive to two customizable homes," Tishman Speyer's senior managing director Carl Shannon told Business Insider in an email. So the $49 million penthouse was split into two units in 2017. And as of this month, they're listed on the market for sale.

Penthouse 41A is priced at $10 million and is 5,700 square feet in size and penthouse 41B is a tad smaller, spanning 5,200 square feet, with a $7.5 million price tag. They take up the 41st and the 42nd floors of the tower between the two.

They're being sold as customizable "shells," meaning there's no floor plan, walls, or interior design — which means that the future owners will basically be paying for unfinished apartments.

"We believe that buyers interested in these spectacular spaces would prefer to customize their homes to their personal specifications to better match their specific tastes," Shannon said. He said there are plans and interior layouts available for the future buyers to choose from. 

There was once a $1.55 million build-out incentive attached to each of the penthouses, but they've since been removed. According to SF Gate, build-out costs for either of the units could be north of $5 million. So the build-out costs will come out of the buyers' pockets, meaning the prices involved to turn either into a living space could likely start at $12.5 million and $15 million respectively.

The Lumina offerings are just some of the luxury condo options in San Francisco, specifically in the "East Cut" neighborhood near the Financial District and the offices of tech giants like Salesforce, Facebook, and Google.  There's a market for this kind of high-priced living thanks to the city's population of high-earning professionals, many of which are in the tech sector.

Take a look inside the more expensive penthouse of the two.

Penthouse 41A in a high-rise tower near San Francisco's Financial District is for sale for $10 million.

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It takes up parts of the 41st and 42nd stories in the tower at 201 Folsom St.

Lumina Tower B at 201 Folsom Street is on the right. Steelblue

It is one of the two "shells" that were originally going to be conjoined as a sweeping $49 million penthouse.

A bedroom in the penthouse. Steelblue

But since that didn't pan out, it was split into two separate units.

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The "shell" of the condo is unfinished.

A seating area and a bar seating counter. Steelblue

However, it's currently staged with pop-up walls and furniture to give buyers an inkling of how it could look.

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Penthouse 41A is wrapped by a 250-foot glass facade. You get complete 360-degree views of the city and the bay.

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The unit comes with 18-foot ceilings. Shannon said it's currently the only condo in the city with ceilings that high.

The penthouse comes with three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms.

A bedroom in the unit. Steelblue

There are also three outdoor decks.

A terrace. Steelblue

The Salesforce Tower is in clear view from one of them.

A rooftop terrace. Steelblue

The 41A unit, and also its sister unit, comes with parking space for up to three vehicles in an underground valet garage, Shannon said.

A solitary bathtub in what appears to be a bathroom. Steelblue

The tower also has community amenities available to all tenants, like a pool ...

A pool in Lumina's tower. Steelblue

... a movie theatre ...

A movie theatre in the Lumina tower. Steelblue

... a rooftop terrace ...

A rooftop terrace for the tower's occupants not just the penthouse tenant. Steelblue

... a fitness center with a climbing wall ...

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... and a two-story club lounge.

The Lumina club lounge. Steelblue

The 41A unit is one of the last remaining units available in Lumina's Folsom Street Tower.

A staged living room in the unit. Steelblue

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