Bay St, Marina

Bay Street runs intermittently right through the heart of the Marina in San Francisco. It is home to the most expensive home to sell in the Marina and is filled with pretty amazing older homes and apartments on its western end by the Palace of the Fine Arts.

In fact, one block of Bay Street borders the southern end of the Palace. The homes that look out onto the artificial lagoon and the swans are slightly unusual for Bay--they are old neoclassical looking homes dating from a century ago, during the period just after the Great Quake of 1906. It is on this stretch, looking out over the lagoon that you will find the highest priced home to sell here in the past year. A nearly 3000 ft. 4-bedroom 3-bath dating from 1929 sold here for $4.3 million in November. (It has last sold in the late 90’s for under $1 million. Quite an appreciation.)

The rest of Bay along this western section of the Marina is made up of three and four story buildings not altogether unlike similar buildings that you find in North Beach and other sections of San Francisco, with street level garages underneath attractive bay windows. There are actually a fair number of apartments along this stretch, which is perhaps a touch surprising for the Marina which is mainly known as a swanky family area.

Bay dead ends at Scott St. and then picks up again at Fillmore St. where it has a fairly different feel having Marina Middle School on its southern end and then Fort Mason on its northern end about midway through. Along this section it is mostly apartments and as you get near Fort Mason they are actually of a newer variety, the 3-story Victorians giving way to modern looking redwood shingled buildings on the western end of the fort.

Fort Mason, like the Presidio on the western end of Bay, is no longer used for military purposes and now is home to some private enterprises, including the classy vegetarian restaurant, Green’s.

What will renting one of these condos on Bay cost? Prices run from $6000 to $20,000 per month for a two bedroom. (That is right--I didn’t put in an extra zero on one of those.) I even saw a 5-bedroom going for $45,000/month here. That is more than half a million dollars a year for a home you won’t even come to own. You can however find a one-bedroom for just under $3000--a steal, I guess.

Unfortunately, the Marina really isn’t so safe of an area to live. In the last six months there has been one murder and more than 150 assaults in the Marina. There have also been nearly 300 burglaries and robberies. Given how much people pay to live here, it is a little surprising that crime should be this high here, even with the high density.

Overall, I think the price and crime worries make the Marina not the best value. Even though you are right by the Presidio and have tons of other nearby entertainments, I can’t really recommend this as the ideal location for setting down roots.