We’re all familiar with the cliché of the tech billionaire buying a private island, but for Silicon Valley CEOs who have yet to snag their own slice of seclusion, an exciting opportunity just popped up in their own backyard.
Red Rock Island, a 5.8-acre piece of land situated in the San Francisco Bay, recently hit the market for $25 million. It’s the only private island in the area and an untouched oasis of natural beauty, with panoramic views of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Mount Tamalpais.
“Red Rock Island has long fascinated me as a mysterious and sought-after gem in the San Francisco Bay,” says listing agent Chris Lim, global brand ambassador at Christie’s International Real Estate. “When approached by the seller to assist in finding a new caretaker for the island, I spent a day on this private sanctuary. I felt an undeniable connection to Northern California—the rugged landscape, unspoiled beaches, and the deep, mesmerizing blue waters.”
(Realtor.com)
(Realtor.com)
(Realtor.com)
(Realtor.com)
A private island with an intriguing history
According to San Francisco folklore, Spanish pirates used Red Rock Island as a safe place to stash their treasure. But the first confirmed use of the island was in 1812 by Russian and Aleut fur hunters who camped there while looking for otters.
The only known resident of Red Rock Island was Selim Woodworth, a former California senator and son of the popular 19th-century poet Samuel Woodworth, who built a cabin there and maintained a hunting preserve.
The current owner is Brock Durning, a retired former Bay Area resident who inherited the island from his late father, Mack Lewis Durning, in 2012.
Brock’s father was granted ownership of the island by his business partner, David Glickman, an eccentric San Francisco attorney who had purchased the vacant island for just under $50,000 in 1963. Although the Durning family never inhabited the island, they used it as a getaway and would pitch tents on the beach and go hiking and fishing.
(Brock Durning)
Throughout the years, Red Rock Island has been advertised for sale in various Bay Area newspapers, starting in 1955 when the property was listed with no price. It appeared in print again in 1979 for $1.5 million and was listed once more in 2001 for $10 million. And while the island has come close to changing hands only a few times, there was one noteworthy individual who allegedly planned to buy it in the 1980s.
Durning told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2009 that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the controversial leader of the Rajneeshpuram commune in Oregon and subject of the 2018 hit Netflix series “Wild Wild Country,” planned to purchase the island until he was deported in 1985.
How can the island be used?
Whoever buys Red Rock Island will have earned the right to decide how it’s used, but developing it is not as straightforward as you might assume.
“Red Rock Island occupies three separate Bay Area counties because it was established as a triangulation point by surveyors in 1850 and, per the seller, San Francisco is zoned residential, Contra Costa is zoned industrial, and Marin is zoned general use,” says Lim. “Structures can be built on the island, but the future owner would have to navigate permitting in those jurisdictions.”
Over the years, several suggested uses for the island have emerged.
“There have been proposals to conserve the island, develop it into a hotel, and to remove the rock from the top of the island and use it for highway construction,” Lim says. “In the 1970s, there was discussion about purchasing the island for building a Playboy Club. There was also a proposal presented for development of the island, complete with a wedding chapel, geodesic domes, marina, and helicopter pad—but none of these proposals came to fruition.”
Another challenge that a buyer will have to contend with is the lack of established utilities.
“The island doesn’t have electricity or running water, but desalination, solar panel, and satellite systems are used on other private islands,” says Lim.
Despite the aforementioned obstacles, owning the infamous Red Rock Island is a dream that seems particularly fitting for this generation of billionaires who would likely get a kick out of pointing to a rocky mass in the water (perhaps from a private helicopter?) and casually announcing, “See that island? I own that.”