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  Bay Area's Red Rock Island Up for Sale
February 1, 2012
 

Red Rock Island may be in Richmond, but it is also in San Francisco and Marin County. The boundaries of three counties (san Francisco, Contra Costa and Marin)  and two cities – Richmond and San Francisco converge at its summit.
Developing Red Rock? Forget it. You’d spend a lifetime and a fortune getting the project approved by three planning commissions, three design review boards, 2 boards of supervisors and one city Council, not to mention another dozen or more regional, state and federal agencies with various jurisdictions.
Red Rock has a fascinating history. For more see:

The best plan for Durning would be to donate it and take a tax write off.
Bay Area's Red Rock Island Up for Sale
The Most Unusual Piece of Real Estate in the S.F. Bay Listed at $9 Million
By Kellie Onaga
|  Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012  |  Updated 9:42 AM PST
Description: Bay Area's Red Rock Island Up for Sale
There's a place in the bay that some might call a little-known secret - where you can throw the ultimate private island party - that is, if you have spare cash laying around - say in the neighborhood of $9 million.
Red Rock Island in the San Francisco bay is up for sale. The asking price - yes, a measly $9 million. But - that's a considerable discount considering the original listing at $22 million earlier this year. The owner, Mack Durning, just wants it off his hands - according to the listing agent, Steven Higbee.
The real estate is truly a unique find - It's the only privately owned island in the bay.  It lies just on the south side of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and straddles three counties - Marin, S.F. and Contra Costa - making for gorgeous views in all directions.  The island spans nearly 6 acres and reaches 172 feet above water at its highest point. 
Higbee has represented the island off and on for years.  He says the former owner, the late David Glickman, a San Francisco attorney, bought the property in 1964 for less than $50,000.  Glickman, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright engineer Mendel Glickman, dreamed of transforming Red Rock Island into a vacation hideaway and building a hotel and tapping into its gas reserves.
But neither came to fruition.  Instead, retired businessman Durning ended p acquiring Red Rock Island from Glickman some 40 years ago in lieu of a debt.  Durning said he made monthly payments for 18 years before earning full ownership.  He has done nothing with it since, except occasionally bringing the family or boy scouts on expeditions and cave exploring.
Higbee however, envisions the empty island as a getaway place for vacationers or the setting for a dream house - after removing the top of the rock formation.  He places the value of the island at $22 million - taking into account the rock there that's useful for road building, aggregate and cement. 
But Higbee says another great option would be for someone to buy Red Rock Island and donate it to the East Bay Regional Park District in Contra Costa.
The Bay Citizen
Red Rock Island
Description: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/15/us/15BCINTEL1/15BCINTEL1-articleLarge.jpg
Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen
Red Rock Island as seen from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in Marin County.
By HANK PELLISSIER
Published: May 14, 2011
Jutting out of the blue near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is Red Rock Island, a homely atoll with a colorful history and a sizable price tag. Many have made plans over the years to develop this ideally situated islet with spectacular views, but it is currently uninhabited.
Description: The Bay Citizen
A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of the San Francisco Bay Area for The New York Times. To join the conversation about this article, go to baycitizen.org.
Enlarge This Image
Description: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/15/us/15BCINTEL2/15BCINTEL2-articleInline.jpg
Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen
The island is uninhabited and for sale.
HANK PELLISSIER
What’s There?
Scattered brush, a few pine trees, migrating Canada geese, sea gulls, bats and perhaps rabbits, and former mine tunnels. The island is 500 feet wide, 750 feet long and 176 feet high. Only a 20-minute ride from Sausalito, the beach provides safe landing for boaters and driftwood for campfires. 
Stone Value
The “red rock” of the island is oxidized manganese. Tons of this low-grade ore were removed in the 1860s and shipped to Europe to be used as paint pigment. Perhaps more valuable than the manganese is the island’s Franciscan schist, a rock used in road building.
Triple County
Red Rock Island encompasses three counties because it was established as a triangulation point by surveyors in 1850. About four acres of the island are in Contra Costa County, one and a half acres are in San Francisco County, and less than one-tenth of an acre is in Marin County.
Flip It
A San Franciscan, David Glickman, bought the island in 1964 for $49,500. Today it is on the market for $22 million, including mineral rights.
Sad Slaughter
Russian and Aleutian fur hunters, looking for sea otters, used Red Rock Island as a campsite in 1812. Thousands of sea otters lived in San Francisco Bay until they were clubbed and trapped to near extinction.
Population: 1
Selim Woodworth built a cabin and lived on Red Rock Island in the 1800s. He tried to claim title to the island via the Homestead Act, but officials refused because they thought the government would eventually use the area.
Tiny Siblings
Red Rock is the only privately owned island in San Francisco Bay, but at 5.783 acres it is far from the smallest. The Brother Islands and the Sisters, two pairs of nearby rocky islets, are all one acre or less in size.
Cult Customer
The island was almost sold in 1985 to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the Indian “sex guru” with 93 Rolls-Royce limousines who set up a commune in Oregon. In 1984, his followers contaminated restaurant salad bars in Oregon with salmonella. The Red Rock deal fell through when Bhagwan was deported.
hpellissier@baycitizen.org
A version of this article appeared in print on May 15, 2011, on page A27B of the National edition with the headline: Red Rock Island: SAN FRANCISCO BAY.

 

 

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