Several rare San Francisco lots sold at auction Tuesday for eyebrow-raising sums, even in a city known for shocking prices. Located near the shoreline close to Candlestick Park, the lots were billed as “a unique opportunity,” with each offering 5,000 square feet, or about 1/10 of an acre of land. The lots sold for less than $1,000 a piece, but there was a catch, of course.

All of them are submerged in the bay.

The underwater parcels – 151 Fitzgerald Ave., 0 Bancroft Ave. and 215 Tevis St. – were advertised as “an intriguing speculative investment” with a world of promise, including “potential alternative uses such as future waterfront positioning, possible boat docking considerations, environmental or recreational applications, or strategic land banking.”

Marie Bradley, an executive administrator for Vantage Auctions – the company selling the lots – noted even more options, including “oil drilling” and “expanding the land mass out into the bay” when the property isn’t covered with the chilly waters.

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This is all part of the gamble, explained Don Cruz Datanagan, the managing director for Serhant’s Northern California office. Founded by Ryan Serhant of “Million Dollar Listing New York” and “Owning Manhattan” fame, the brokerage is among the newest in California, establishing offices in the state just last month.

“Some buyers may view parcels like this as inexpensive long term bets on future San Francisco waterfront value,” Datanagan wrote in an email to SFGATE. But scoring this kind of deal comes with many caveats.

According to Datanagan, these types of parcels offer “very limited practical use today” and can still be subject to regulatory constraints and annual property taxes. There’s more. “From the mapping, the lot appears well offshore with additional submerged parcels between it and the shoreline, raising significant questions around access, use rights, and long term viability,” he said of the Bancroft lot. The two other parcels are similarly positioned.

“Ownership alone would not automatically create meaningful development rights or usable waterfront access,” Datanagan said.

While such opportunities are considered rare, they do pop up in the Bay Area periodically. In 2023, a man purchased a 10,000-square-foot lot in Alameda for $300,000, unaware that it was submerged. He attempted to offload the property the following year for $400,000.

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This article originally published at Buyers are scooping up underwater San Francisco real estate.