San Francisco Decorator Showcase Home in Contract

Just days after this year’s San Francisco Decorator’s Showcase home closed its doors to the public, the nearly 9,400-square-foot Pacific Heights home with a $19.5 million price tag has gone into contract. If it sells at that price, it will bring in just under $2,100 per square foot.

The eight-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom home at 2935 Pacific Avenue, which recently showcased the work of 21 top interior designers from around the Bay Area, was marked “pending” on multiple listing sites as of May 30. It didn’t hit the market this spring until April 25, making for a remarkably quick turnaround for a house at this price point. It first came to market at the same asking last September, but went off the market without a sale in early December.

Sotheby’s International Real Estate agent Neill Bassi holds the listing and declined to comment on the sale or how hosting the showcase impacted the home’s marketing and desirability this spring.

The sellers are Spencer Wells, a partner of independent fiduciary services firm Drivetrain, and his wife Alexandra, according to county records. They have owned the home since 2010, paying $11.5 million at that time.

The turn-of-the-century property was originally built as a Tudor-style three-unit investment property for the widow of a banker in 1902, but was transformed into a single-family home with a garden apartment and a more classically inspired look in 2009, according to showcase materials supplied by San Francisco University High School. The private school has hosted the interior design exhibition since 1977 and raised over $19 million for its financial aid program during that time. About 16,000 people tour the home during the month it is open, according to the school.

Showcase organizers told The Real Deal in April that about $500,000 in product, with three sponsors for the marble alone, were brought into the home in the three months preceding the event. While furniture, art and some fixtures typically leave after the show is over, the marble and other built-ins stay, as do improvements to outdoor areas.

Showcase homes are often, but not always, for sale. The 2024 Decorator Showcase home, 2898 Broadway, has been on and off the market, but came back on at $26 million early last month. That’s down from $32 million when the 11,000-square-foot-plus home first listed in 2023 and the $29 million asking after the showcase last year.

Agents have said that uncertainty caused by the Trump tariff ups and downs and associated swings of the stock market started shaking up the luxury market in late February, though they have started to settle down again more recently. Some homes are selling quickly and over asking, while others are sitting or selling at a loss.