Fontana East

Bay Views, a Garden and Room for One Small Pet

Fontana East is about 127 co-op homes in a 17-story tower at 1000 North Point Street, on the water at Aquatic Park, with an attended lobby, assigned garage parking, a community room with a kitchen, a library off the lobby and a ground-floor garden with a BBQ. Every home has the water on its north side, with the bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate out the window wall, and nothing taller will ever block it. It’s a stock cooperative, not a condo, and it’s its own one: Fontana East Apartment Corporation owns this tower and nothing else, with its own board, staff, budget and house rules. Fontana West next door is a separate building run by a separate corporation, and nothing there carries over to here, including the pool. We’ve sold in both towers, so we can walk you through how board approval works at this one.

Quick Facts

• Street address: 1000 North Point St, San Francisco, CA 94109
• Built: 1965
• Homes: About 127
• Stories: 17
• Sizes: ≈ 350–1200 sq ft
• Parking: Assigned garage
• Pets: One per home, dogs up to 15 pounds
• Floor plans: Studio, 1BR, 2BR and a few larger homes
• Ownership: Stock cooperative with its own board approval
• Developer: Robert D. Fraser
• Architect: Hammarberg & Herman
• Co-op corporation: Fontana East Apartment Corporation
• Sister tower: Fontana West at 1050 North Point, a separate co-op with no shared amenities
• MLS district: 8E, Russian Hill

East, Not West

The two towers look like a matched pair and share a name, a driveway and a view. That’s where it ends. Fontana East Apartment Corporation owns 1000 North Point; Fontana West Apartment Corporation owns 1050. Each has its own board, its own door staff and manager, its own budget, reserves and dues, its own pet rules and its own rules for showings and open houses. The amenities aren’t reciprocal either: owning at East gets you East’s garden and community room, and it doesn’t get you into West’s pool. See the two side by side →

Amenities

• Attended lobby with door staff
• Garden and courtyard with a BBQ
• Community room with a kitchen, off the lobby
• Library off the lobby
• Assigned garage parking
• Guest parking
• Laundry room on each floor
• Storage room assigned to each home

The Fontana East Lobby and Garden

The Good

• Every home has the water on its north side: bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate
• South-facing bedroom windows in many layouts
• One small pet is allowed
• Monthly dues cover things owners usually pay for separately, including most utilities
• Aquatic Park, Ghirardelli Square, Fort Mason and the Hyde Street cable car turnaround are at the door

The Tradeoffs

• No pool here; the pool next door belongs to Fontana West and isn’t shared
• Co-op purchases mean board approval and fewer lenders to choose from
• Renting your home out takes board permission and isn’t a casual option
• Moves, deliveries and contractors are weekdays only
• Ghirardelli Square and the Wharf bring visitors, especially on summer weekends

Location: Fontana East on the Map

Aquatic Park is across the street, the cable car is inside the five-minute ring, and the tower next door is somebody else’s co-op.

Walk rings Transit The waterfront Beyond the park

Fontana EastFontana West, a separate co-opBuilding guidesCable car & streetcarPlaces5 and 10 minute walks

Rings are 5 and 10 minute walks from the Fontana East lobby doors. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Who It's For

Fontana East is for buyers who want the water and a staffed building at a price that’s hard to match in a condo, and who’d rather have a garden than a pool: people downsizing from a house, anyone who walks the waterfront every morning, and owners of one small dog or cat. If you need maximum lender choice or plan to rent the place out, talk to us first about how this co-op’s rules work.

The Backstory: The Towers That Lowered the Waterfront

Developer Robert D. Fraser built the Fontana on the old Fontana cannery and warehouse site, modeling the design on a tower he had built in Waikiki. Russian Hill neighbors hired Caspar Weinberger to stop them and lost. They won the bigger fight: the city put a temporary 40-foot height limit on the northern waterfront in 1961, and the Board of Supervisors made it permanent in 1964 across about 100 blocks. Look east toward Fisherman’s Wharf and everything you see is low because of these two buildings, which is also why their views aren’t going anywhere. Fontana West opened in 1963 and Fontana East in 1965.

Floor Plans

Studios start around 350 square feet, one-bedrooms run about 525 to 750, and two-bedrooms are about 1,000 to 1,200, with a few larger homes. We don’t have the original floor plans posted for the Fontana; ask us for the plan of any home you’re considering. Insiders will find every recent sale here, unit by unit, at the bottom of this page.

Monthly Dues

Fontana East sets its own budget, so dues here have nothing to do with dues next door. They’ve covered more than most: when we last listed here, the monthly figure included heat, electricity, water, sewer, trash, cable, internet, building insurance and the door staff. Dues at Fontana East vary by home size and change with each year’s budget, so we don’t publish a number that could be out of date by the time you read it. Reach out and we’re happy to share what’s current.

Pets

Fontana East allows one registered pet per home. Dogs are limited to 15 pounds, a list of larger breeds is excluded, and service and certified therapy animals are handled separately. Pets come and go through the garage, not the lobby, and ride the elevator carried or in a carrier. Visiting pets aren’t allowed and subleases have to exclude pets. Rules change by board vote, so confirm the current policy before you write an offer around a dog.

Parking, Transit & Getting Around

Homes come with an assigned space in the garage, which has two levels and its gate on Polk Street; confirm the space and storage room that come with a specific home. There are five guest spaces with an eight-hour limit, registered at the front desk, and the co-op takes applications for EV charging. The Hyde Street cable car turnaround is a short walk away, the F Market streetcar runs along the waterfront to Fisherman’s Wharf and the Embarcadero, and Fort Mason and the Marina are a flat walk west. For how assigned, deeded and leased spaces differ, and what to ask before you count on EV charging, read our guide to condo parking in San Francisco.

Fontana East Questions, Answered