The 5.8-acre Red Rock Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay is now up for grabs with a nice price tag of $25 million.
The island was previously listed in 2015, as we reported at the time, for just $5 million, although that was slashed from a 2011 price of $22 million.
The current owner, Brock Durning, who inherited the island from his father, currently resides in Alaska, per SFGATE. He reportedly wants to sell it to secure some extra money to care for his aging mother.
However, owning this island — one of the five in San Francisco, among Treasure Island, Yerba Buena, Alcatraz, and Seal Rocks — comes with significant hurdles. Divided among Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco counties, any big development plan would need to comply with the rules of all three. The city of Richmond, where 4.1 acres of the island technically lie, has previously opposed development plans — which in the past have included private residences, a yacht harbor, botanical gardens, billboards, a casino, a restaurant, and a hotel, as well as a proposed 25-story tower, none of which ever came to fruition.
Some more fun facts about the the craggy Red Rock Island: Russian trappers were regular visitors to the island in pursuit of its otters. In 1964, Mendel Glickman, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, acquired the island for less than $50,000, hoping to construct a vacation retreat and harness its gas reserves.
Today, the rocky outcropping sits pretty much empty, although it does have one tree, a beach, and an abandoned Coast Guard fog bell. It also might have buried treasure and it definitely has deposits of the mineral manganese, which was apparently covertly mined in the mid-1900s.
Possible development could range from a private home or possibly a desalination plant and solar farm, as Chris Lim, the real estate agent representing the property, told SFGATE.
Feature image via Flickr/Don Barrett under Creative Commons.