San Francisco underwater lots near Candlestick Point sell for under $1,000

Three submerged lots near Candlestick Point changed hands for less than $1,000 apiece, a reminder that in San Francisco’s priciest real estate market even a patch of seafloor can draw bidders if it comes with a deed and a story.

One of the parcels was marketed as a 5,000-square-foot underwater lot at 215 Tevis Street, listed at an estimated $250. Another was a 4,996-square-foot lot near Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, shown as 0 Bancroft Avenue Lot 17 and described as nothing more than seabed. Together, the sales underscored how land speculation around the southeastern waterfront has pushed beyond conventional housing sites and into parcels that sit below the waterline.

These are not normal vacant lots waiting for a foundation. They are submerged pieces of land in the Bayview district, roughly 1/10 of an acre each, and their value rests almost entirely on long-term bets: that shoreline conditions, legal boundaries or redevelopment plans could someday make them more useful than they are today. In one case, realtor Nicolo Gobbi said the parcel sold for nearly $800, above asking, still far below the city’s ordinary real estate prices but high enough to show that some buyers are treating these lots as speculative ownership plays.

The surrounding land carries its own baggage. Candlestick Point sits beside the Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point redevelopment area, a roughly 702-acre stretch of San Francisco’s southeastern waterfront that is planned for housing, retail, office, research and development, cultural, educational and open space uses. The adjacent Hunters Point Naval Shipyard remains a Superfund site, with cleanup and health oversight involving state, federal and city agencies, a fact that keeps the area under a level of scrutiny unusual even by San Francisco standards.

That mix of contamination, redevelopment and shoreline uncertainty helps explain why underwater parcels can attract attention. Candlestick Park, built in 1959, was once home to the Giants until 1999 and the 49ers until 2013. The stadium is gone, but the name still carries enough weight to make even a seabed lot feel like a long-shot wager on the next chapter of the waterfront.