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    A Former Apple Exec’s San Francisco Apartment Just Hit the Market for $25.5 Million

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    Around 15 years ago, Jon Rubinstein doled out $7 million for a dated San Francisco apartment in a historic residential tower perched atop a hill in San Francisco’s affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood, across from Lafayette Park. Now the former Apple executive has hoisted the revamped residence back on the market, asking a substantially higher $25.5 million. Neal Ward of Compass holds the listing.

    Though that’s a whopping $18.5 million more than Rubinstein and his wife Karen Richardson, a former technology and software executive, paid for the place back in late 2010, the couple did spend three years and upwards of $10 million gut-renovating the premises in collaboration with Paul Davis Architects. Gone are the formerly bland 1970s interiors in lieu of an elegant Parisian townhouse-like space boasting custom paneling and moldings, Paul Ferrante lighting, and hand-distressed oak parquet floors in chevron and Versailles patterns. Vast expanses of glass also offer up postcard-worthy views of the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, and beyond.

    The fireside living room comes with an intimate seating area that opens to view terraces.

    Brian Kitts

    RELATED: A Silicon ValleyHeavyweight Lists His 1920s San Francisco Mansion for $19.5 Million

    Encompassing the entire fourth floor of the 10-story Beaux-Arts-style cooperative building on Washington Street, which was designed in the early 1920s by renowned Bay Area architect Conrad A. Meussdorffer, the Rubinstein home offers four bedrooms and five baths. More than 5,200 square feet of Mirella Forlani-designed living space features an array of posh perks ranging from a climate-controlled wine cellar that can accommodate up to 3000 bottles to a bedroom that’s been converted into a workout area complete with a sauna and steam shower.

    A private elevator opens into the entry vestibule, which flows to a window-lined living room sporting a decorative marble fireplace and a conversation nook with French doors opening on either side to iron-railed terraces. Other highlights include a chandelier-topped dining room tucked behind pocketing doors and a handsome walnut-clad study/media room, as well as a sleekly modernized kitchen outfitted with imported Italian Arclinea cabinetry, a stainless island, Miele and Sub-Zero appliances, and a breakfast room.

    The walnut-clad study/media room adjoins an office, both with built-in bookshelves.

    Brian Kitts

    RELATED: This Tech Financier’s $22 Million Estate Is One of the Oldest Homes in San Francisco

    Sequestered down a hallway is the primary suite, which hosts a dressing room and fitted walk-in closet, along with a compartmentalized bath equipped with dual vanities, a soaking tub, and a glass-encased shower. Each of the three secondary bedrooms has its own bath, one outfitted with the aforementioned sauna and steam shower. Rounding it all out is a hefty $9,519 monthly HOA fee, which covers the building’s doorman and security services, a communal garden, two assigned parking spaces, and storage rooms.

    Rubinstein, who was instrumental in developing Apple’s iMac and iPod products as senior vice president of hardware engineering, went on to become CEO of Palm and co-CEO of the global investment management firm Bridgewater Associates. He currently serves on the boards of Amazon and Robinhood. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the couple has decided to sell because they haven’t spent much time in California recently due to work-related travel. “Homes should be used,” said Rubinstein, who also owns a primary Florida residence in the seaside town of Vero Beach.

    Click here for more photos of the Pacific Heights residence.

    Brian Kitts

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    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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      Celebrity Chef Charles Phan Relists His Live/Work Loft in San Francisco for $5.5 Million

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      A little over three years after it first hit the market for $6.2 million, Charles Phan’s live-work space in the bustling Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco has popped up for sale once again. This time the award-winning chef and owner of The Slanted Door restaurant empire is seeking $5.5 million for the property that he and his wife Angkana Kurutach picked up for a smidge under $1.8 million in late 2005. The listing is held by Trecia Knapp of Sotheby’s International Realty–San Francisco Brokerage.

      Designed by noted Bay Area architect William Wurster and built way back in the early 1900s, the industrial-style structure extends from Wilmot to Bush streets, along Fillmore Street. With a total of 6,300 square feet over three levels, the building includes ground-floor restaurant space that’s currently leased for roughly $11,000 a month and a personal living space on the upper floors consisting of three bedrooms, four baths, and a roof deck providing city views.

      The double-height great room hosts a combined living and dining area, plus a Phan-designed kitchen.

      Open Homes Photography

      RELATED: A Prominent Restaurant Family’s Longtime Beverly Hills Home Hits the Market for $5.6 Million

      Mattina, a Cal-Italian restaurant and cafe operated by James Beard Award nominee Matthew Accarrino, occupies 2,640 square feet on the first floor, while the second floor hosts an attached one-car garage and an entrance to the living quarters that’s accessible from the rear of the property. From there, a wood staircase heads up to the third floor, where the 3,760-square-foot residential layout features updated interiors adorned throughout with light narrow-plank hardwood floors, soaring exposed concrete-beam ceilings, and several sizable skylights.

      The kitchen’s commercial-grade appliances are hidden away from public view.

      Open Homes Photography

      Especially standing out is a combined living and dining area that connects to a wraparound kitchen designed and built by Phan himself and outfitted with an expansive stone-topped island and commercial-grade appliances. Other highlights include a library/media room, as well as two guest bedrooms that each have their own loft space and share a bath, plus a spacious primary suite displaying a wall of steel-framed windows, a seating area, a walk-in closet, and a spa-inspired bath equipped with a dual vanities and a glass-encased shower.

      Topping it all off is a bonus room with a bath that opens via sliding glass doors to a large south-facing roof deck that’s ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining.

      Vietnam-born Phan, 62, is a Food Network alum best known for founding his Slanted Door restaurant on San Francisco’s Valencia Street in 1995. He’s since opened several more establishments, with the most recent making their debut in the Napa Valley, where Phan has owned a home since the late ’90s, and internationally in Burgundy, France. The two-time James Beard Award-winning chef—widely acclaimed as the inventor of modern Vietnamese cuisine in America—also has penned the cookbooks Vietnamese Home Cooking and The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food.

      Click here for more photos of Charles Phan’s live-work loft.

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