What $5,700 rents in San Francisco right now

Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Is one person’s studio another person’s townhouse? Today’s price: $5,700.

It’s a curious truism of San Francisco living that we don’t seem to prize proximity to our major parks and beaches the way most American cities do. Maybe Golden Gate Park’s long and narrow design means that there are simply too many homes adjacent to it for the distinction to appear noteworthy anymore, or maybe a lot of people still haven’t warmed up to living in perma-foggy western neighborhoods. But this three-bed, two-bath flat on Lincoln Way in the Sunset immediately next to one of the MLK Drive park inlets is asking $5,700/month these days, so clearly somebody must want to live there pretty bad—or so the landlord gambles. It’s a 1,300-square-foot setup with en suite bath in the largest bedroom, and a series of bay windows so wide that they make up nearly the entirety of the exterior living room wall. The ad doesn’t say whether or pets are allowed.

Speaking of neighborhoods with rising profiles (and rent prices), this ad places its two-bed, two-bath condo in Hayes Valley, near the border, at the corner of Buchanan and Duboce. Arquitectonica principal Bernardo Fort-Brescia says he modeled 8 Buchanan’s design after the street grid around Market, picturing “rectangular glass prisms coming [together] from two different directions.” The condo itself plays things straight, advertising a “spacious two-bedroom, two-bathroom corner unit, located on the seventh floor [with] approximately 1050 square feet of living space” for $5,690/month. Again, no word on pets.

Speaking of fashionable new construction, Millennium Tower continues to command hefty asking prices despite its near constant stream of bad headlines. Maybe the idea is that as renters you don’t have to worry about the potential long-term problems of the building’s floundering foundations—or maybe condo owners figure there’s no reason not to gamble on asking for big money. In this case, a one-bed, one-bath, 750-square-foot condo mysteriously dubbed “ready for Dreamforce” is $5,500/month. The furnished pad welcomes dogs but not cats. Maybe they’re too prone to vertigo?

Maybe renters prefer more stable footing in Glen Park, where a three-bed, two-bath flat on Chenery Street asks $5,690/month and offers the largest floorpan of the five at 1,600 square feet from beginning to end, plus balcony, deck, and “manicured backyard.” On the inside this place is a dish full of gorgeous wood paneling, stained glass windows, and curving coved ceilings. More beautiful still is the very permissive pet policy.

Finally, the literally hundreds of apartments at the Gateway complex in Ironship Plaza have been hanging around the Embarcadero since 1966, even if hardly anyone in the city can recall precisely where Ironship Plaza actually is. Turns out it’s a rather prominent location, right next to Embarcadero Plaza and its divisive square fountain, where the free flow of rental demand means that a two-bed, two-and-a-half-bath apartment asks a highly specific $5,676/month. But “sorry, no pets.”