Marshy private island in San Francisco Bay goes up for sale at $75M

For sale: What’s billed as a 50-acre island on the northeast edge of San Francisco Bay, for $75 million.

John Sweeney has listed Point Buckler Island on the south side of Grizzly Bay in Solano County, the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate reported.

Never mind that the privately owned island, one of the few in the Bay Area not owned and protected by the state or federal government, consists of swampy marsh. 

Or that it’s only accessible via helicopter or boat.

Or that its $1.5 million-per-acre-price appears to be geared toward selling to the billionaire backers of a future utopian city in Solano County, according to SFGate.

“It’s an idyllic site,” Marianne Bordogna, the listing agent with Keller Williams Realty, told the Chronicle. “If someone just wanted to have their own island and get away from everyone else, it’s a beautiful place.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance: I mean, when do you get a chance to buy a private island?”

Sweeney bought the island, which had long been used for duck hunting, in 2011 for $150,000. 

Since then, he has used it for private kiteboarding, but ran into trouble with state and federal regulators after he fixed old levees to develop his club. Officials said the work impacted tidal flows and wildlife habitat, which Sweeney denies.

The property is zoned MP1, or marsh preserve 1, according to the real estate company, which says it could allow for the construction of at least one home, contingent on resolving issues with the levees.

Sweeney said he’s selling the island because he ran out of money, estimating his work on the levees cost him $9 million in fines.

The listing for Point Buckler Island appears to be a pitch to the new city builders, once known as Flannery Associates, now renamed California Forever, which secretly bought up to 55,000 acres in Solano County hoping to develop a new Bay Area city. The company is financially backed by Silicon Valley billionaires.

“The only privately owned island in the San Francisco Bay area is now for sale — near the future Flannery utopian city planned for Solano County,” the listing reads.

Read more

Development

San Francisco

Head of Silicon Valley consortium sets up shop in Solano County

Development

San Francisco

California Forever: billionaire-backed utopian plans unveiled

Residential

San Francisco

Tech billionaires ID’d as buyers of $800M in Solano County farmland

Sweeney also mentions Flannery in his social media bio. “Owner of Point Buckler Island — a tiny island in San Francisco Bay that could block development of Flannery Associates new California Forever City,” his X profile states.

For years, Point Buckler Island was described as 39 acres, but the current listing marks it at 50, according to SFGate.

The discrepancy may be due to the breaking and building of levees, rather than real estate listing hype. Either way, it may be vulnerable to rising sea levels, the news site reported.

— Dana Bartholomew