Millennium Tower 1-Bedroom Rents for $10,000 as Marina Suit Hits Court

San Francisco's housing market registered two striking milestones this week as a 773-square-foot one-bedroom condominium in downtown's Millennium Tower leased for $10,000 per month to an artificial intelligence professional, Emily Landes reported in The San Francisco Standard, while developers of a proposed 848-home Marina Safeway redevelopment asked a federal judge to dismiss a neighborhood lawsuit filed under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Kevin V. Nguyen reported in The San Francisco Standard.

23rd-Floor Millennium Tower One-Bedroom Leases for $10,000 a Month

According to Compass leasing agents Sean Mamola and Trista Bernasconi, the 773-square-foot one-bedroom unit on the 23rd floor of the 58-story Millennium Tower — which last asked $3,600 per month in 2022 according to Zillow and was purchased by its current owners in August for $660,000 — is believed to be the first downtown San Francisco one-bedroom apartment to cross into a five-digit monthly rent.

After the owners' son changed plans in September, the agents initially listed the condo for rent at $6,800 per month before trimming the asking price to $6,400 in mid-October. While negotiating with another prospective tenant, an AI professional working down the street offered $10,000 per month with a Nov. 1 move-in date to secure the unit.

Completed in 2009, Millennium Tower underwent more than $100 million in structural engineering repairs completed in 2023 after experiencing roughly 18 inches of sinking and 29 inches of tilt. Unlike downtown peers One Steuart Lane, The Avery, Lumina, Mira, Infinity, and 181 Fremont — which require 1-year leases — Millennium Tower permits 6-month minimum leases and recently earned a Verified Luxury Residences designation from Forbes Travel Guide for amenities that include a 75-foot Olympic-style lap pool, a 2,500-square-foot CORE-operated gym, spa and steam rooms, temperature-controlled wine storage, and a private dining room catered by Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry's International Smoke. Currently, 10 resale units remain on the market in the building priced between $650,000 and $6 million.

Developer Moves to Dismiss 1871 Civil Rights Act Suit Over 848 Marina Homes

Across town in the Marina district, attorneys at Holland & Knight representing developer Align Real Estate filed a motion Wednesday asking U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín (nominated in 2022 and confirmed in 2023) to dismiss a federal lawsuit seeking to block the 848-home redevelopment of the Marina Safeway site.

Filed last month by attorney Stu Gross of Gross Klein PC on behalf of neighbors led by the YesAnd Foundation and Neighborhoods United SF — including Lombard and Fillmore homeowner Amanda Cluse — the complaint alleges violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and claims the city violated due process under the 155-year-old Civil Rights Act of 1871 (enacted during Reconstruction to protect Black Americans from Ku Klux Klan violence) by approving the project ministerially without a public hearing under California's Assembly Bill 2011.

Enacted in 2022 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks with backing from North Coast States Carpenters Union government affairs director Ron Rowlett, AB 2011 streamlines ministerial approvals for qualifying affordable housing projects on commercial land that pay prevailing construction wages. After U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick issued orders on Sept. 22 and Oct. 2 declining to link the suit to earlier PG&E cases, Judge Martínez-Olguín scheduled a hearing on the developer's motion to dismiss for February.