The shipping executive who set a state record when he bought a Tennessee mansion earlier this year is looking to set another real estate benchmark—this time in San Francisco.
A $35 million penthouse atop a historic building in Pacific Heights is now the most expensive home on the market in San Francisco and could narrowly break a city record if it were to sell for its asking price. The pad is located in a 1924 Beaux-Arts-style building across the street from Lafayette Park, and features a doorman, shared garden and ample private terrace space.
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The penthouse’s owner, Christopher R. Redlich Jr., purchased a Belle Meade, Tennessee, mansion earlier this year for $32 million—a state property sale record. Redlich, the former CEO of the shipping and cargo company Marine Terminals Corporation, is a native Californian who worked his way up through the ranks of the family business before taking over the company in a leveraged buyout. He then expanded the firm to include software and process engineering to improve waterfront productivity and sold it in 2007.
Redlich and his wife bought the three-bedroom, three-bathroom full-floor San Francisco penthouse in 2015 for approximately $30 million.
The foyer
Roger Davies/OTTO
“It’s in one of the great traditional buildings of San Francisco and has a 360-degree view,” Redlich said. “I call it the ‘five bridge view’ because I can see all five bridges across San Francisco Bay.”
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The current Bay Area property sales record was set in March 2023, when a French Normandy-style home a mile and a half away sold for $34.5 million after a $10 million price cut, according to SFgate.
Redlich’s penthouse hit the market last week with Gregg Lynn of Sotheby’s International San Francisco Real Estate. Lynn said he doesn’t like to make predictions, but he believes the sale could be one indicator of the city rebounding from a “doom loop” to a new “boom loop.”
“Recent record stock market highs—particularly tech stocks which are the focus in the Bay Area—and dozens of newly funded AI firms relocating here and securing downtown office space have made San Francisco one of the fastest-growing cities in the state,” Lynn said. “San Francisco’s ‘boom loop’ may begin soon.”
The city reportedly saw net-positive population growth in 2023. “The media narrative about San Francisco is evolving quickly as tech leaders return to the city,” said Lynn.
In order to update the penthouse to suit their needs, Redlich embarked on a meticulous, multi-year renovation, hiring architect Andrew Skurman and interior designer Susan Tucker to reimagine the interior.
“We basically ended up tearing everything out of the walls and rebuilding it from the ground up,” Redlich said.
Entered through a vaulted octagonal entryway with inlaid marble floors, the spacious layout flows from a corner living room and Baltic pine-stained paneled family room with a fireplace into an arched dining area and mirrored dining alcove. The living spaces feature 12-foot ceilings inlaid with intricate plaster detailing and arches as well as exposed walnut floorboards. Tucker and Skurman also reconfigured the home to include a west-facing chef’s kitchen with views to the Golden Gate Bridge. The room includes a marble-topped island and blue-paneled cabinets.
At the southern end of the penthouse, the three bedroom suites include upholstered paneling to soften city noises, built-in shelving and stone-tiled bathroom floors. The home has two additional partial bathrooms.
Accessed by oversized French doors throughout the home, the wraparound deck is one of Redlich’s favorite features.
“Having the French doors open up onto the terraces was always a beautiful way to get out of the apartment and get into fresh air,” said Redlich. “There’s even a friendly hawk from the park that comes to perch sometimes.”
Redlich, who sits on the board for the Stanford University School of Medicine, is now focused on projects optimizing both education and healthcare and plans to make Tennessee his full-time home.
“It’s a very special place,” he said of the penthouse. “It’s unique in San Francisco.”
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