The folks at Worth magazine recently listed their top 10 residential buildings around the globe, and SF's Millennium Tower has squeaked onto the list at #9. We're not exactly sure what the criteria are, other than some boilerplate about "creative daring" and "visionary homes," but one thing that all these buildings have in common is that they're both new (some aren't even completed yet) and crazy expensive. For example, #1 on the list is New York's One57, whose penthouse set a city record when it sold for $90 million (that's $13,000 per square foot, which makes even SF's condo prices seem reasonable). Only three of the ten buildings are in the U.S., with the remainder in far-flung locales like Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Hong Kong.

As for the Millennium tower, it's the tallest and most expensive residential building west of the Mississippi, which is probably why it's home to Joe Montana and venture capitalist Tom Perkins (who owns a $9.35 million penthouse unit). The designer is Glenn Rescalvo of Handel Architects, and amenities include a lap pool, terrace, fitness center, and wine cellar.

In case you haven't heard of Worth magazine, it aims to "enlighten, inspire, and serve a select group of high net worth individuals with an avid interest in the intelligent stewardship of their personal wealth." While 110,000 households in the magazine's "proprietary high net worth database" receive free copies of the magazine via mail, those of us without access can also purchase it for the low, low cover price of $18.95. Also, we can pretty much guarantee that whoever wrote this article probably made in the neighborhood of $30,000 this year, because that is how journalism works now.

[Chronicle]