San Francisco Billionaires’ Row Home Sells After Two Years

A home on San Francisco’s Billionaires’ Row that has sat on the market unclaimed for the past two years has finally closed escrow.

The century-plus-old luxury home at 2898 Broadway sold for nearly $17.8 million, down from its most recent listing price of $26 million, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The seller was technology investor Jim Willenborg and his wife Barbara, who purchased it in 1988 for $3.4 million and revamped the manse with extensive renovations over the years. Joan Gordon of City Real Estate brought the buyer, who hasn’t been identified. The Willenborgs first listed the home in 2023 for $32 million and later dropped the asking price to $26 million.

In the two years afterward, the San Francisco luxury housing market remained in post-pandemic doldrums before an upswing this year. As artificial intelligence firms flock to San Francisco and the Bay Area at large, so too do the number of executives and employees looking for high-end places to live — so much so that there’s now a shortage of mansions in the city for those buyers.

“What a difference 808 days makes,” Compass listing agent Max Armour told the Business Times. “We’ve moved from forecasts of decline to one of the strongest luxury cycles I’ve seen in years, driven by AI, rising markets and renewed confidence in San Francisco.”

The Broadway home was completed in 1899 and survived the 1906 earthquake, which destroyed nearly all of the city, with little damage. It was later featured in films like 1960’s “Portrait in Black” featuring Lana Turner and 1985’s “Jagged Edge” starring Glenn Close, Jeff Bridges and Robert Loggia.

The mansion also twice served as the San Francisco Decorator Showcase home in 1989 and 2024, with more than 20,000 visitors shuffling through the home each time. The five-level mansion boasts more than 11,000 square feet of living space, complete with 10 bedrooms, six bathrooms, eight fireplaces, two laundry rooms, a garden, wine storage capabilities and three storerooms.

Billionaires’ Row has seen an uptick in high-profile sales activity compared to recent years, according to Armour. Last month, the most expensive home in the city this year sold at 2930 Broadway for $42 million; that followed the $26.5 million sale of 2900 Broadway next door to the Willenborgs’ 2898 Broadway, in the spring. — Chris Malone Méndez