If I Ever Left Pacific Heights, Here’s Where I’d Go (The Marina)

There's no other neighborhood in San Francisco with a better combination of food, nightlife, shopping, walkability, stunning architecture, parks, and waterfront living with great weather than San Francisco's Marina neighborhood. That's why it routinely ranks among the most expensive places to live in the entire city and why people relocating here from all over the country, whether they're single and moving here for their first job, whether they're retired or have a big family and want a forever home, all have the Marina near the top of their list. This is Austin Klar, your lawyer-turned-real estate agent in San Francisco and Marin County. I've lived in Pacific Heights, pretty close to the Marina, for over 5 years. And while I love where I live, if there was ever a neighborhood I would consider leaving Pacific Heights for, the Marina would be at the top of my list. And in this video, I'm going to talk about all the reasons why people can't get enough of the Marina, all the great things to do, the sights to see, the beautiful homes, and how much it costs to live there. I'm also a realist and know that no neighborhood is perfect. Every neighborhood has its cons, including the Marina, and I'll definitely get into what those cons are toward the end of the video. So definitely stick around. So let's get right to it and start with where the marina is located and all the incredible things you can do in the area. The marina is on the north side of San Francisco, bound by Lombard Street to the south, the San Francisco Bay to the north, Van Ness to the east, and the Presidio to the west. And its relatively central location on the north side of the city makes for pretty mild weather by San Francisco standards. The hills of Cow Hollow and Pac Heights to the south and the Presidio to the west protect the marina from the cold and extreme fog that come in from the Pacific Ocean. So the weather in the marina tends to be pretty temperate compared to places like the Sunset, the Richmond, and other areas closer to the Pacific Ocean, but not quite as warm as places more inland and central like Noe Valley, the Mission, and along the Central Waterfront. And that weather is a huge plus because of how walkable the Marina is and all the incredible things to do outside in the area. Before I tell you about that, if you want more information on great cold weather and warm weather neighborhoods, I'll be making a separate video about that and posting it to my channel in the coming weeks. So definitely subscribe if you wanna stay up to date on that. Or if you want more information about what it's like living in San Francisco, current events, new developments, and all the exciting things happening throughout the city. And if you're thinking about purchasing a home in the area, I've helped numerous clients relocate from all over the country to San Francisco. I'd be happy to be a resource for you. I'll drop my contact information in the description below. Reach out anytime. Now let's get back to the Marina. As I mentioned, the weather in the Marina is a big bonus because of all the awesome things you can do outside. The Marina is entirely flat from Lombard all the way to the waterfront. So pretty much no matter where you live in the Marina, you're going to be able to walk to anything you could possibly need, whether it be groceries or like boutique shopping, restaurants, bars, and some of the other amazing amenities like park spaces throughout the area. You've got Marina Green and Crissy Field, which are two gigantic open green spaces on the north side directly abutting the water. Marina Green is right next to the municipal boat marina, which is why the area is called the Marina neighborhood. It's a 74-acre park with amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Angel Island, and the city. The area is also home to the St. Francis Yacht Yacht Club and Golden Gate Yacht Club. So if you're into boating and you want to be in San Francisco, you definitely need to have the Marina on your neighborhoods list. Crissy Field is to the west of the Marina Green, and it's larger, a little over 120 acres, and it's got those same amazing views and great picnic spaces. Both of these sites are absolutely packed during Fleet Week, during the San Francisco Marathon. People picnic out here all the time. They play with their pets out here all the time. They take their kids out here all the time. There's, you know, soccer games going on every single weekend during the season. It's a great place whether you're single or have a family or pets. Whatever it is, great areas to be outside. The Marina is also right next to the Presidio, which is a national park to the west of the Marina neighborhood. It's got a ton of open green space, forested hiking and walking trails, basketball courts, tennis courts, children's play areas, and all with absolutely stunning architecture in the background and beautiful views of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the city. Off the Grid, which is, you know, a food truck festival, takes place every single week in the flat part of the Presidio closer to where the Marina is, closer to the waterfront. There are brand new parks going up in the area of Presidio Tunnel Tops just opened a couple years ago. They're expanding the Tunnel Tops. There's a food hall coming to the area with some pretty big culinary names behind it. I'm going to be making a video about all the things coming to the food hall when it's closer to opening, and I'll definitely be giving you a tour. So definitely subscribe to my channel if you're interested in that. On the opposite side of the marina, on the east side, is Fort Mason. Like the Presidio, Fort Mason used to be a military outpost, but it's been converted into one of the most popular exhibition sites or event sites in the entire city. They do like art shows, Christmas markets, farmers markets, food trucks. Off the Grid also hosts food truck pop-ups in Fort Mason. My go-to coffee spot Equator is at Fort Mason. Rad House Beard Hall is in Fort Mason. So many things to do in the area. One of the great amenities you get in your backyard living in the Marina. And last but not least, you have the Palace of Fine Arts, which is probably one of the most Instagrammable spots in the entire city. It was initially built as part of an effort to create a massive World's Fair-like event that would showcase the best of SF and celebrate its rebuilding after the 1906 earthquake. It was initially designed by Bernard Mabec as a fictional ruin from another time inspired by Roman and ancient Greek architecture. The building was one of 10 exhibitions at the site, designed sort of as a pass-through for crowds traversing from one part of the fairground to another. It was mostly torn down after the exposition and used as a storage depot during World War II, and it was subsequently rebuilt in the '60s and '70s. And today its grounds cover over 17 acres, including a lagoon surrounded by some of the most stunning architecture in the marina. And I'm definitely going to show you some of these incredible houses in a minute, so stick around. On nice days, you will see people picnicking there, just hanging out, taking a walk around the lagoon and taking in the awesome weather and beautiful sights. And on top of all those parks and amenity spaces, you have incredible food, shopping, and nightlife. All of that is concentrated along Chestnut Street in the Marina specifically. So when the weather is nice, it's an amazing area to walk around, grab some great food, eat outside, and go run some errands. They have big name brands like Apple, but also smaller boutiques, jewelry stores, eyewear, skincare, you name it, they probably have it. And the food there is awesome. One of the most popular restaurants, hardest to get reservations in the city right right now. Little Original Joe's recently opened in the Marina. One of my favorite sushi spots in the city, Mama Noko, is on Chestnut Street. One of my favorite Italian restaurants, A16, is on Chestnut Street. And you've got more casual spots like Taco Licious, Souvla, Blue Barn, Sweetgreen, and a ton of other options on and immediately off of Chestnut Street. And if you want even more options, you can go south a few blocks to Union Street in Cow Hollow, which has its own separate collection of food, bars, and restaurants. Or you could drive a few minutes over to neighboring Russian Hill and go hang out on Hyde Polk Street. So there are a ton of options immediately outside of the Marina for food, shopping, nightlife, all of that. The Marina is also on the north side of San Francisco, so it is really easy to get across the Golden Gate Bridge if you want to go hang out in Marin, or if you're going to go spend the day or weekend in Napa or Sonoma. So it's a really convenient place to live to go north as well. And just as stellar as the amenities in the Marina are the homes. The Marina has some of the most stunning architecture in all of San Francisco. You see a lot of classic Marina-style homes, which have the big bay windows above the garage, on the front side of the house. This is a classic example of a marina-style home on Pier Street, which I helped a client buy. It was technically a 2-unit building that was combined into a single family. It had massive ceilings in the great room, really beautiful floors, a gorgeous yard. My client put a hot tub in the backyard after he moved in, and he specifically bought this house because of how close it was to Chestnut Street. You can literally walk out the door and be close to everything he wanted. And there are beautiful houses like this all over. The most expensive streets to live on in the Marina are Rico Street and Marina Boulevard. Rico is a very narrow, kind of windy road, very close to the water. It's not super heavily trafficked. Mainly people who live there are the only ones who are traveling on Rico. There's so many beautiful homes, some with more traditional facades and updated interiors, and others much more modern. Marina Boulevard is the last street abutting the Marina Green, overlooking the Yacht Harbor and the San Francisco Bay. So many redone homes on Marina Boulevard that sell for well north of $2,000 a foot. This one right here just sold for just under 2,000 foot, almost $11 million. And the views from these homes are absolutely incredible because they are so close to the water and there's nothing built in front of them. Some of them are also detached from their neighbors and have larger than average sized lots. So great indoor-outdoor living, great natural light coming in from all sides. Some of them have awesome rooftops overlooking the water. It's an incredible place to live, but there are definitely some downsides. The main one is traffic because Marina Boulevard is so busy. It's one of the main thoroughfares to get from certain parts of the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, So people going out of town for the weekend or coming into town for the weekend often travel on Marina Boulevard. So both the foot traffic and car traffic is pretty heavy. All those pedestrians and cars make it a little bit more difficult sometimes to back out of your driveway. So just something to be aware of. But far and away, the pros of living on Marina Boulevard outweigh the cons. I would definitely live there. I also mentioned that some of the houses on Marina Boulevard are detached. Most of the marina is not like that. Most of the homes are going to be lot to lot or built from lot line to lot line. So not detached on their sides. So it is pretty tightly packed single homes, you know, sort of on top of each other, or, you know, some larger multi-family buildings next to each other as well. And while not all the houses cost, you know, $2,000+ per square foot, the Marina is one of the most expensive places to live in the entire city. Over the past year, the average single-family home has sold for a little bit over $4 million, a little over $1,400 a foot. That's the single-family side. There's also a ton of condos in the Marina as well. You don't really have a ton of modern amenity buildings in the Marina. There are a couple. For the most part, older buildings that don't have amenities. And there's a pretty big range from price point. I helped a client buy a 1-bedroom in this building right here for $1,050,000. It was a 1-bedroom with parking, laundry, had awesome natural light. It was a 15-unit building. So, you know, pretty dense compared to what you see in some of the other pricier neighborhoods on the north side of San Francisco. At the opposite end of the spectrum is a condo like this, which I helped a client buy earlier this year. That one was just a 2-unit building and their unit occupied the top 2 floors of the building, had an exclusive deck with views of the Palace of Fine Arts, views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Gate Bridge, and it was like done to the nines on the inside, and that one sold for $3.15 million. So the range of cost is definitely broad. The average cost of a condo in the Marina over the past year was about $1.7 million, a little over $1,200 a foot. Now I promised you I would discuss some cons, and there are definitely some cons of living in the Marina, so let's get right to them. First is the soil conditions in the Marina. The Marina is largely on liquefaction, which means that when there's an earthquake, the soil's ability to support structures decreases. The ground can temporarily at least turn into a more liquid-like state instead of dense, compact, hard surface. And this actually caused a lot of the marina heavy damage in prior earthquakes. Now, building codes have been updated since those earthquakes. We learn from these issues that arise, and there are ways to engineer to safeguard against that risk. But it is something to be aware of when you live in the marina. If you're looking at a place in the marina and you have concerns about it, get a foundation contractor to your place, get a structural engineer out to your place, have them do an analysis to see what, if anything, you need to do to safeguard against that risk. The next con is parking. The marina gets so busy, and because it's more dense, there's not really a lot of street parking available. If you are looking to buy something in the marina, I highly recommend you buy something with parking. Do not buy something without parking unless you absolutely do not and do not ever plan to need parking. It is such a pain to park in the area. Even if you don't need parking, maybe you have friends over or family over, they might need parking. So definitely think about getting parking if you're living in the marina. Third con is traffic. I already mentioned traffic on Marina Boulevard, but Chestnut Street gets just as busy, if not busier. You also have Lombard, which is another main road that leads to and from the Golden Gate Bridge. It is extremely trafficky, so all the offshoots of Lombard and Chestnut immediately next to those streets get very heavily trafficked as well. When you're on the more residential streets far away from those areas, it's much more quiet, much more residential, not as much traffic, but you just go a couple blocks and it does get very, very busy. And the last con, which I went over earlier, is the cost of housing in the area. It's super expensive. Even the average size condo or single family home in the Marina is very expensive to own. But that's what happens when you live next to some of the city's best sites and amenities with all this awesome architecture, food, nightlife, shopping, all of it. It's super worth it. I truly think it's one of the best neighborhoods in all of San Francisco. And if I was ever considering leaving Pacific Heights, one of the neighborhoods at the top of my list would absolutely be the Marina. If you're thinking about relocating and having trouble deciding which neighborhood is right for you, or you're unsure about what's going on in the market given all the changes going on in the city and with interest rates, reach out to me. I moved to the Bay Area over a decade ago to work as a lawyer at one of the biggest law firms in the world before getting into real estate. I've helped numerous clients relocate here from all over the country. I'd be happy to be a resource for you. I'll put my contact info in the description below. And before you go, if you want to learn more about where I live right now in Pacific Heights, I've made several videos about what life is like living there, including walking tours and pros and cons videos. I'll link those in the description as well. Go check them out. And if you want more videos about what it's like living in SF or Marin, current events, new developments, and all the exciting things going on in the area, subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. I hope you enjoyed the video, and I'll see you in the next one.