“Shovel Ready” Upgrade and Pac Heights House Sell for $17M

A home that previously belonged to Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus and his then-wife, One Kings Lane co-founder Alison Pincus, sold last month in “shovel-ready” condition for a major upgrade for $17 million, according to public records.

The buyer was hardwood flooring importer Jin Qian.

Compass agent Neal Ward represented the seller, Troon Pacific, which bought the 1907 Albert Farr-designed property from the Pincuses for $16 million in 2016. The developer then spent more than five years shepherding plans for a major renovation through the planning and permitting process. The home is now “shovel ready” with approved architectural plans and building permits, according to listing notes on the property. The approved plans allow for two additional floors to be built below the 20,000-square-foot structure, for a total of six stories, according to city documents.

The plans from architecture firm Snohetta, which also designed the expansion of the SFMOMA and the September 11 Memorial Museum, also move the home’s entrance from 2650 Pacific Avenue to Broadway. That would officially put the home on “Billionaire’s Row,” a three-block stretch in Pacific Heights with some of the city’s best views and most expensive real estate.

Troon put the original value of that Broadway address and in-hand permits at $30 million when the property first came to market in March 2021. After sitting at that price for over a year, it went off market last summer and came back on in September with a new $20 million price tag. It went into contract just under a month later and closed the next day at $17 million, or $850 per square foot. The quick close indicates an all-cash sale.

Roberto Corpuz of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer, Newspace, which state records show is connected to Qian and lists a mailing address that matches a home near Alta Plaza Park that Qian has owned since 2010. Qian and his wife Jeanette Lam own and operate South San Francisco-based Struxtur, one of the country’s leading floor importers. Its hardwood and engineered flooring is in more than 8,000 stores nationwide, according to Lam’s LinkedIn profile.

Neither agent replied to a request for comment.

The cost for the dug-down development at the time the permits were issued in 2021 was estimated at $6.5 million, an amount that is likely well under what it would cost today as construction costs have skyrocketed and San Francisco has become the most expensive place to build on earth. Even without the presumed millions in construction costs factored in, the $17 million sale is one of the biggest residential deals to close this year and particularly this fall. Last month the city saw its slowest October since 2011, according to Compass data.