Private Island In San Francisco Bay Listed For $25 Million

The only private island located in San Francisco Bay is being listed for $25 million.

The Wall Street Journal reported the six-acre Red Rock Island near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge north of San Francisco is zoned for residential use. The vacant island lacks electricity and running water, and during the 19th century it was used for manganese mining – abandoned mining tunnels are still on the island.

Over the years, several proposals were raised to bring residential and hospitality developments to the island, but nothing came to fruition. Attempts at off-market sales, with prices ranging from $5 million to $22 million, also were nowhere. Complicating the sale and development are local environmental laws and the unusual location of the island within the territories of three counties – Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco.

The island’s owner, Brock Durning, told the Journal that his late father was granted ownership by his business partner, who bought the island in the 1960s for under $50,000. Durning lives in Alaska and hopes to use the sale’s proceeds to finance the care of his elderly mother.