San Francisco Church-Turned-Condo Hits Market

A condominium carved out of a Mission District church is up for sale for buyers interested in some holy housing.

A 5,300-square-foot unit at 653 Dolores Street just hit the market asking $6.8 million, the San Francisco Standard reported. The asking price amounts to $1,271 per square foot.

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom residence occupies part of a three-story former Christian Science church known as The Light House that developer Siamak Akhavan purchased in 2011 and spent years transforming into four condominiums.

The seller is John Nichols, co-founder of 1-800-Contacts, who bought the condo in 2016 for $6.1 million. He later relocated to San Diego and leased the unit to fintech startup Cardless for $20,000 per month. The unit is now being offered for rent at $40,000.

The conversion from church to housing preserved many of the building’s ecclesiastical bones.

The unit features 30-foot ceilings, exposed brick and steel, original stained-glass windows and repurposed wood from the old church’s flooring. A lofted primary bedroom overlooks the main living area, while a large lower-level suite doubles as work space and entertaining area. Akhavan retained the church’s signature dome for his own penthouse unit, while the four residences share access to a landscaped greenbelt tucked behind the building.

The property, across the street from Mission Dolores Park, is expected to draw a buyer pool that includes empty nesters, artists and founders, listing agents John Woodruff of Aethos Real Estate and Marcus Miller of Helm Real Estate said.

Nichols isn’t the only notable resident of the building.

One unit is owned by Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, who purchased it in 2023 for nearly $4 million and uses it as an event space. Other condos were formerly occupied by Hive, a startup that trained and connected civic-minded entrepreneurs. — Chris Malone Méndez