Real Estate Blog

The Valley's housing market is the best it's been since before the recession.

Editor's note: The San Francisco Business Times recently launched this weekly real estate digest featuring a round-up of local news items, musings from notable figures, insights from other publications and must-reads from our own newsroom. As always, we'd love to hear what you think and how we can improve. Please email digest editor Emily Fancher ([email protected]) with any feedback, suggestions or possible news items for this feature.

After snapping up a new headquarters last year,…

A much-anticipated new report on how best to protect the Seaport District and other Boston neighborhoods from the effects of climate change finds that the cost to build a massive, multibillion-dollar wall in Boston Harbor is not worth the benefits.

Instead, it finds that the city of Boston and other coastal cities and towns should focus on more localized projects to counteract the flooding and higher sea levels wrought by global warming, said the report, which was compiled by researchers at the…

Key story highlights:

Alan Novak, co-founder of CityInterests, has died.
Novak developed a wide range of projects, from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to Parkside in Ward 7.
His career is much more than bricks and mortar, taking him from law to film to art collecting.

CityInterests co-founder Alan Novak, whose projects ranged from high-end hotels and waterfront developments to workforce housing in badly needed parts of the city, died May 23, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. He was 83.

The…

Separately, developer Ariston Group LLC is asking Gwinnett County to OK changes in Ariston's plans for its 16-acre project on the northerly side of Mall of Georgia Boulevard.

The shifts mark a new Bay Area chapter for the co-working company.

To keep up with its growth, Dallas-based law firm Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC is expanding its office space.

The firm has increased its office by about 40 percent by adding 8,800 square feet to its existing 21,200 square feet in Pennzoil Place, at 700 Milam St., according to a press release. It now occupies the 26th and 27th floors in the North Tower.

Construction on the new space is expected to begin soon with a move-in date set for mid-September. When complete, the new space will have 16 new…

The oceanfront property in San Clemente, California, once owned by President Richard Nixon is back on the market for $63.5 million, significantly lower than its asking price of $75 million three years ago.

Nicknamed, “The Western White House,” the estate was bought by Nixon in 1969 for $1.4 million. Nixon called the property “La Casa Pacifica,” and retreated there with his family after his 1974 resignation. They lived there until selling it in the 1980s.

The estate has been owned for more…

Key story highlights:

A 3.2-acre estate that belonged to the late AOL co-founder James Kimsey has hit the market for $62.95 million.
It's the most expensive residential property on the market in the region, by far.
The home has a guest house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

And we thought $49.5 million would safely hold the record.

When Steve Case listed his Merrywood estate at that price about a year ago, the local real estate market watched to see what would happen: Would it sell? Would the…

A new apartment complex is planned for midtown Phoenix — in place of several existing homes and vacant lots.

The Arizona Republic reports that a developer shelled out $7 million to purchase 20 old homes along with some vacant parcels along Earll Drive and Cheery Lynn Road between Third and Fifth streets with the intent to raze them and build a 329-unit apartment complex.

North Carolina-based Crescent Communities bought the houses, which were built between 1915 and 1950, according to the Republic.…