VC big’s ex sets own benchmark at $12M on Russian Hill

Laura Fenton, ex-wife of venture capitalist Peter Fenton, has sold the turn-of-the-20 century Russian Hill home they formerly lived in together for $12 million.

The property, on a brick-paved cul de sac portion of Larkin Street, as well as a tenancy-in-common Peter Fenton owned in the building next door, were transferred into Laura Fenton’s name as a part of the couple’s 2018 divorce proceedings, according to public records.

Laura Fenton appears to be holding onto the tenancy-in-common unit for now.

Neal Ward of Compass listed the four-bedroom, six-bath home for $11.5 million on May 9 and one week later it was in contract.

The shingle-style residence, popular at the turn of the century, predates the 1906 earthquake. The inside of the nearly 6,000-square-foot home was remodeled and expanded extensively in 2003. Fenton purchased the property for just over $10 million within weeks of it coming to market in early 2008.

In 2012, the Fentons’ neighbors fought the couple’s plans to extend the rear of the home. Carol Seligman, ex-wife of Giants minority owner Scott Seligman––who sold her home next door to Fenton’s for $9.8 million earlier this spring–– led the charge, appealing the San Francisco Planning Department’s decision to allow Fenton to push out the back by 20 feet. Seligman claimed the addition would essentially create an “observation platform” into her home, as well as block light and cast shadows across several yards, according to her Planning Department complaints.

Although the Fentons won the appeal, they appear to have decided against the addition in the end, focusing instead on renovations within the main home, which also has a lower-level guest suite with a separate entrance. The top-floor pentroom, which was added as part of the 2003 renovation to serve as more of a family room, became a glassed-in office with Alcatraz views and access to the roof deck with fire pit and wet bar.

Fenton is a cofounder of Benchmark, a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm, and was an early investor in Yelp and Twitter, and sat on the latter’s board until 2017. In early 2018, the New York Post’s Page Six revealed that Fenton was dating Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend Kate Greer. The VC and the popcorn entrepreneur welcomed a baby girl in early 2020 and announced they were expecting again earlier this year.

Judging by Greer’s Instagram, the couple seem to have settled into the 10-acre coastal property Fenton bought in Big Sur for $1.8 million in 2019. They also bought a beachfront two-unit building on Great Highway in San Francisco together for just over $2 million that same year, according to public record, and a five-bedroom Greenwich Village townhouse for $11.5 million at the end of 2020.

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