Former Apple Design Chief Buys Belvedere Homes

Jony Ive is growing his Bay Area real estate portfolio with a $73 million worth spree in Belvedere.

The former Apple designer and artificial intelligence firm founder spent the bundle on four houses in the Marin County enclave, the San Francisco Standard reported. The purchases in the Tiburon-adjacent city came after Ive spent tens of millions of dollars on almost a block of property in San Francisco’s Jackson Square neighborhood in recent years.

Ive bought three neighboring houses at the end of Golden Gate Avenue and a fourth on nearby Beach Road, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The largest of the homes, which includes five bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and four fireplaces, sold for $43.5 million, according to the Chronicle. By comparison, an average single-family home on the spit of land costs $4.3 million.

Entities tied to Palo Alto-based tax consulting firm Apercen Partners previously owned the properties, according to the Standard. The three Golden Gate Avenue properties have largely sat empty, an anonymous neighbor told the publication. One of them was previously rented out at a cool $15,000 per month to Samuel “Mouli” Cohen, the disgraced tech CEO who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2012 for wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.

In May, artificial intelligence giant OpenAI bought Ive’s AI device startup, Io Products, in a $6.5 billion deal. Three months prior, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bought three more homes in Russian Hill in addition to the mansion in the San Francisco neighborhood he already owned.

Under OpenAI, Io is reportedly developing hardware that uses ChatGPT’s capabilities in a so-called “iPhone of AI,” according to the Chronicle. The firm has reportedly reached an agreement with two Chinese suppliers that previously worked on Apple products, with possible product types allegedly being devices that resemble a smart speaker, glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, The Information reported.

In addition to his Jackson Square and new Belvedere holdings, Ive also owns a mansion in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood.

— Chris Malone Méndez