Landmark San Francisco Bay-area church is for sale

A former church with maritime aesthetics has been listed for sale in Marin County’s Belvedere, with a notable twist.

It comes without a list price, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The property, located at 501 San Rafael Avenue, was designed by architect Charles Warren Callister in 1951 and has a distinctive nautical theme. 

Constructed using locally sourced redwood and Douglas fir, the 3,600-square-foot building pays homage to Belvedere Island’s maritime history, including a steeple resembling a boat’s mast.

The church’s congregation merged with another local congregation during the pandemic, leading to its closure due to its remote location and limited capacity. 

However, the property’s unique architecture and design have generated interest, as it could be converted into a single-family home, even though it’s currently zoned for multifamily housing and it does not have a kitchen and has limited bathrooms, real estate agent Matt Brown of Meridian Commercial — who has the listing — told the outlet. 

The quarter acre property includes a nursery and church office, as well as striking views of the city. 

The unnamed sellers have chosen not to provide an asking price initially, opting to gauge interest and assess offers before deciding on a price, which could be steeper than anticipated considering Belvedere area is among the most expensive ZIP codes in the country, the outlet said.

It’s not unusual for former holy places to be put on the market and converted for other purposes.

The convents that serve as homes and headquarters for nuns’ missions now, in many cases, have a question mark hanging over them, with investors swooping in to develop the properties.

A former convent was converted into luxury condos in Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago. The 180,000-square-foot building was once an outpost for the Sister of Christian Charity.

Alex and Sue Glasscock, the hoteliers and owners of the Ranch Malibu, dropped $11 million on the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate’s 140-acre estate and 40,000-square-foot mansion in Tuxedo Park, New York, in August. Natale Development bought a decrepit former convent from the Sisters of Mercy in Buffalo for $75,000 in 2017, and officially proposed a senior living development for the site this past November, Buffalo News reported. A

Accordia Realty Ventures has proposed a 111-unit multifamily development at the Sisters of Christian Charity convent in Mendham, New Jersey, according to Patch.

Institutional and individual buyers are also striking deals with nuns. Long Island’s Bayport and Blue Point communities bought the St. Ursula Center for $3.7 million from the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk in 2019. Now the Bayport-Blue Point Library, the nuns had been there since 1935, according to Patch. 

— Ted Glanzer