Shorenstein Sells Sea Cliff Home for $30M

One of San Francisco’s most famous real estate families has sold its long-time Sea Cliff home for $30 million.

On Jan. 31, in what appears to be an off-market deal with an LLC, 260 Sea Cliff Avenue sold for 10 times what former Shorenstein Properties CEO and Chairman Douglas Shorenstein paid for the 8,300-square-foot home in 1988, according to public records. The deal has not been reported until now and is one of the most expensive sales in San Francisco so far this year, a list that includes Sam Altman’s buy of the Russian Hill home next door to his own for what was reported to the MLS to be $38.5 million, but listed in city records at $14 million.

Neill Bassi of Sotheby’s International Realty was involved in the sale of the cliff-top home overlooking the Pacific, according to his website, but it is unclear if he represented the buyer, the seller or both, and he did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Shorenstein’s Pacific Real Estate Associates bought the 1905 Sea Cliff property with a three-car garage for $3 million more than 35 years ago, according to city records. But in 1999, a trust for Curran Theatre owner and Broadway producer Carole Shorenstein Hays, sister to Douglas and daughter of Shorenstein Properties founder Walter Shorenstein, was added to the deed.

When Douglas died in 2015 he still owned 99 percent of the property, according to an affidavit of death filed in 2019 by First Republic Trust Company of Delaware, which became the successor trustee.

Shorenstein Properties and a representative for the trust did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

A 2004 San Francisco Chronicle profile said that, at the time, Shorenstein Hays lived in Sea Cliff with her husband and two children, had a waterfront view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Robin Williams as her neighbor. Williams’ former home around the corner from 260 Sea Cliff recently sold for $18.1 million.

While the Shorensteins are known for their commercial real estate holdings, like the former Twitter building, Shorenstein Hays has handled her family’s entertainment investments. In the late 1970s, Walter Shorenstein entered a partnership with the New York-based Nederlander family of theater owners to take on the master lease at the Curran. Soon after, the partners bought and refurbished the Golden Gate Theatre, followed by the Orpheum.

After Shorenstein Hays bought the Curran in 2010 and was perceived by the Nederlanders to be competing against the SHN partnership for touring Broadway shows, a long legal battle ensued. In 2019, Shorenstein Hays gave up her half ownership of SHN, which now operates the Orpheum and Golden Gate under the name Broadway SF, and retained her ownership of the Curran as a separate entity.

Shorenstein Hays is also the producer of several Tony Award-winning and nominated Broadway shows, including “Fences,” “Fun Home,” “Doubt,” “Caroline, or Change” and “Proof.”

Correction: This story has been edited to reflect that The Real Deal doesn’t know who is behind the LLC.