The West Coast home of a billionaire which was a newly renovated and restored mansion in Belvedere Island in the San Francisco Bay was sold for $47.5 million shattering the local sales record. According to Yahoo!, the record sale in San Francisco Bay area before that is just $35 million.
The historic mansion in Belvedere Island is known as the Locksley Hall. The huge estate was built in 1904. This is a three-story estate, 9,235 square-foot-abodes with a pool house, rose garden and a panic room. It has four bedrooms, six full bathrooms and three powder rooms. The library has its own full bath and the kitchen has its own butler's pantry. Aside from that it also includes a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. And to top it all it has the best views of the San Francisco skyline, Angel Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.
This was purchased in 1995 by mining mogul Robert Friedland and his wife, Darlene for $5.5 million, Curbed San Francisco reported. The mansion undergoes a mind-boggling $30 million renovation over the course of nine years. Interior designer Suzanne Tucker was the one who took care of the interiors, while Stephen Suzman Design handled the landscaping. The sale breaks the record for the highest reported single-family home sale in San Francisco proper by $12 million, and the highest reported sale in Belvedere by around $22 million.
A report from TheRealDeal said that the home was originally in the market for as much as $70 million over the years. It was almost sold for $65 million in 2007 just before the housing market collapsed and the mansion fell out of escrow.
In a report by Curbed San Francisco last year, it said, "one bonus for prospective billionaires is the property tax situation: Because this is a historic spread, 440 Golden Gate falls under California's Mills Act, which reduces property taxes in exchange for preserving buildings."
