Back in the spring, an Inner Sunset listing like no other popped up—a four-bedroom house with a historic neighborhood gas station right next door, on offer as an unlikely pairing for $3.09 million.
Well, 1455 Irving (the gas station) is still there. In fact, you can now have it for roughly half the price: $1.65 million. Part of the price cut is simply due to the fact that it’s September now, and after six months the writing ought to be on the wall about the original listing But the more important thing to consider is that half of the original offering isn’t around.
The house on 16th Avenue sold in its own right back in May for 1.6 million. That’s $847/foot for the circa 1908 house (which is three stories but has only a single bathroom). Although the seller really wanted the two properties to go together, apparently there was nothing doing, and the poor Irving lot lost its listing buddy and has sat unsold ever since.
Now it’s popped back onto the market by its lonesome after briefly delisting during the summer, with a price cut of $145,000. These two parcels were originally a Mohawk gas station back in 1925, and continued in a variety of automotive services for 70 years.
Although closed and abandoned for decades, the barren lot and brick hovel seem to be a bit of a local favorite, an artifact of the old neighborhood character from several generations past.
Which might spell trouble for potential buyers. Two commercially zoned parcels at the corner a block away from Judah Street could be prime opportunity for any number of new developments. (The lots’ sales material features some not terribly subtle hints by way of photos of nearby condos and cafes.) But the antique brick shack might qualify as something of a landmark.
Officially, it’s not designated as any kind of historic resource. City records list its status as "unknown," which is the status reserved for the overwhelming majority of city properties, since they’re usually only assessed when there’s a particular need.
But any effort to remove the existing structure could prod the sleeping dragon, provoking neighborhood opposition and the potential for official historic preservation prohibitions. "Neither the seller nor the buyer guarantees any uses on the lots," says the offering memo.
No news is probably good news if you’re fond of old station shell. It would be nice if something could be done with the property whilst preserving the 90-year-old structure, but we’ll have to see if anyone has the gumption to take the bait first.
- Four Bed House With Gas Station [Curbed SF]
- 1455 Irving Street [LoopNet]
- 1314 16th Avenue [Redfin]
- 1455 Irving Offering Memo [LoopNet]
- 1455 Irving Historic Preservation Memo [SF Assessor]
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