July 28, 2011 at 9:05 am

Coolest. Loft. Ever. [40 pics]

by twistedsifter

It’s a bold statement I know. What constitutes the “Coolest. Ever.”? When you’re talking loft spaces, high ceilings is a must…. 30 ft… check. It also needs something unique, something memorable, so when you tell your friends about the “coolest loft ever” one line is all it takes,

“There’s a basketball court in the living room, right beside the 18-foot Ficus tree”

Yeah that should do. Now come check out the incredible loft at 110 Freelon Street, located in the trendy SoMa (South of Market) neighbourhood of San Francisco, California.

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

THE COOLEST LOFT EVER – 110 FREELON STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Built by the owner in the early 2000s with consultation by the Martin Building Company, the 4,400 square foot (408 sq m) live/work space was listed on April 15, 2011 for $3.1 million. Eleven days later, the property was sold for $3.32 million by Rob Levy and Steve Wu.

Featuring multiple levels of mezzanines, the 30-foot ceilings are adorned with multiple skylights, including a gigantic 16 x 20 foot retractable center skylight. That 18-foot Ficus tree is maintained by an automated watering system, and the 9-screen wall panel video system just looks sweet (watching football on Sundays would be epic). More details below…

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

THE COOLEST LOFT EVER Continued…

– NCAA regulation glass backboard
– Music control panels throughout the loft
– Multi-setting custom lighting control system throughout the loft
– Industrial-style fireplace with exposed ceiling flute
– 3-car garage that directly accesses the loft
– Full wood decking on roof-top terrace with 4-person jacuzzi
– laser-optic lit steel tube pathway entrance

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

SoMA (South of Market) Neighbourhood, San Francisco

SoMa borders are Market Street to the north-northwest, the San Francisco Bay to the east, Townsend Street to the south-southeast, and U.S. Route 101 (Central Freeway) to the west-southwest. The northeastern corner (where Market Street meets the bay) is often considered part of the Financial District, while the upper western corner of SOMA between Van Ness Avenue and 5th Street, and between Market and Mission Street is considered part of the “skid row” Tenderloin District. While many San Franciscans refer to the neighborhood by its full name, South of Market, there is a trend to shorten the name to SOMA or SoMa, probably in reference to SoHo (South of Houston) in New York City, and, in turn, Soho in London.

The neighborhood is a vast and diverse stretch of warehouses, auto repair shops, nightclubs, residential hotels, art spaces, loft apartments, furniture showrooms, condominiums, and technology companies. Despite the Dot-Com crash of the early 2000s, major software and technology companies have headquarters here, including Wired, Sega of America Inc., CNET Networks, Twitter, Justin.tv, BitTorrent Inc., Yelp, Rapleaf, and Advent Software among others.

SOMA is home to many of San Francisco’s museums which include the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Cartoon Art Museum, the children’s Zeum, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum are also in the Yerba Buena area. The Center for the Arts, along with Yerba Buena Gardens and the Metreon, is built on top of Moscone North.

Across Howard Street, built on top of Moscone South, is a children’s park featuring a large play area, an ice skating rink, a bowling alley, a restaurant, the Zeum, and the restored merry-go-round from Playland-At-the-Beach. The children’s park and Zeum are joined to Yerba Buena Gardens by a footbridge over Howard Street. The area is also home to the few big box retail stores in San Francisco such as Costco, REI, Nordstrom Rack, and Best Buy. [Source: Wikipedia]

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu