Fontana East & Fontana West

“A co-op? Is that a problem?”
Not if you want the water at your feet. These are the two towers so unpopular that the city banned anything like them on the waterfront.

Fontana East and Fontana West are twin 17-story towers at 1000 and 1050 North Point Street, on the water at Aquatic Park. Fontana West was finished in 1963 and Fontana East in 1965, with about 270 homes between them. They’re stock cooperatives, not condos, and they are two completely separate co-ops: Fontana East Apartment Corporation owns 1000 North Point and Fontana West Apartment Corporation owns 1050 North Point, each with its own board, its own rules and its own finances. You buy shares in one tower’s corporation, and that tower’s board approves each buyer. People assume they’re in the Marina or on the waterfront; the MLS puts them in Russian Hill. We’ve sold in both towers, so we can walk you through how board approval works in practice.

Quick Facts

• Street address: 1000 North Point St and 1050 North Point St, San Francisco, CA 94109
• Completed: 1963 (West) and 1965 (East)
• Homes: About 270 across two towers
• Stories: 17
• Parking: Assigned garage
• Pets: Allowed (each tower sets its own limits)
• Sizes: ≈ 350 - 1200 sq ft (a few larger)
• Floor plans: Studio, 1BR, 2BR and a few larger homes
• Ownership: Two separate stock cooperatives, one per tower, each with its own board approval
• Architect: Hammarberg & Herman
• Developer: Robert D. Fraser
• MLS neighborhood: 8E, Russian Hill

Two Towers, Two Separate Co-ops

Fontana East and Fontana West look like a matched pair, but they don’t share an owner, a board or a budget. Fontana East Apartment Corporation owns 1000 North Point, and Fontana West Apartment Corporation owns 1050 North Point. Each sets its own house rules, its own buyer approval process and its own financing requirements, and each keeps its own books, reserves and dues. A rule, a policy on pets or rentals, or an assessment at one tower tells you nothing about the other. When you compare homes across the two, compare the co-ops too, and read the documents for the tower you’re actually buying in.

Amenities

• Pool at Fontana West
• BBQ area
• Club rooms in both towers
• Attended lobbies with door staff
• Zen garden and courtyard at Fontana East
• Assigned garage parking
• Car wash area
• Shared laundry on each floor

The Fontana West Pool and Fontana Room

The Good

• North-facing homes look at the bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate
• Aquatic Park, Ghirardelli Square, Fort Mason and the Hyde Street cable car turnaround are at the door
• Full-service living: door staff, garage parking and a pool at Fontana West
• Recent sales here ran a little less per square foot than Russian Hill condos overall, with the water thrown in

The Tradeoffs

• Co-op purchases mean board approval and fewer lenders to choose from
• South-facing homes trade the water for city and hill views
• Ghirardelli Square and the Wharf bring visitors, especially on summer weekends

The Fontana East Lobby and Garden

Who It's For

The Fontana is for buyers who want the water and full service at a price that’s hard to match in a condo: people downsizing from a house, anyone who walks the waterfront every morning, and buyers who would rather pay for a view than for new construction. If you need maximum lender choice or plan to rent the place out, talk to us first about how each tower’s co-op 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.

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. Free Insider members can see every recent sale here, unit by unit, below.

Monthly Dues

Each tower is its own corporation with its own budget, so dues at Fontana East and Fontana West are set separately and vary by home. They 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. Ask us for the current dues on any home here and we'll send them along with that tower’s latest financials and any assessments. Call or text (415) 416-4699 or email fullerteam@compass.com.

Parking, Transit & Getting Around

Each tower has a garage with assigned spaces; confirm the space that comes with a specific home. 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.

Fontana Questions, Answered