Ready To Bloom: Long-Unfinished California Home Needs a Buyer’s Fantastic Finale

The next owner of an unfinished home in the hills of Berkeley, CA, will not only enjoy a great view but just might also smooth things over with the neighbors.

However, the buyer should be prepared to put in a lot of work. As the listing suggests, “Call your contractor!”

Initial permits for the property were first filed 49 years ago by an artist and musician.

Now the masterpiece-in-waiting is listed for $1,189,000.

“He loved architecture, and it was kind of a lifelong project—and he passed away, and it was still incomplete,” explains East Bay Property listing agent Gerry Bakalian, of the original owner. “I think it could be repurposed to have that open floor plan that everybody’s looking for, and it could be very clean and sophisticated with remarkable views.”

The structure is mostly steel and wood. In a video the owner made before he died, he says he built the shell of his home to enjoy the views and listen to and create music.

The main level is a pyramidlike tetrahedron, and the flower-shaped roof design has 12 conical vaults of cylindrical steel. Translation: It looks very cool and is unlike anything else in the neighborhood.

Initial plans called for several bedrooms on various levels, music spaces, and other living areas.

The owner pulled the permits in 1974 and had a full set of drawings. But after starting work on the place, he “got waylaid into delays and then permit expirations, so he had to re-up them,” Bakalian explains. “Some people in the neighborhood were upset, because he was kind of a one-man show and didn’t move the process along, like someone would with a full crew and everything. He oversaw everything and was very particular.”

Building codes and other requirements have certainly changed in nearly 50 years, so Bakalian says the buyers will need to conduct their own due diligence before making an offer.

“We’re offering up all the structural accounts, the soil reports, the plans, and people are welcome to do their own chronology through Berkeley,” Bakalian says.

And there’s room to expand. The listing also includes the vacant adjacent lot, too, he adds.

While it’s possible to tear down the structure and start fresh, Bakalian doesn’t envision that happening because of the costs and requirements associated with dismantling the steel construction.

He notes that there is definite potential but has not evaluated what it might cost to finish the project.

“That’s an end-user kind of proposition,” he says. “We’re hoping the buyer is somebody who really wants a kind of unicorn property. It could be a really great opportunity for somebody who has vision.”

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