The Metallica drummer also unloaded a nearby 161-acre property for another $16 million
Lars Ulrich is the Master of Properties.
The Metallica drummer has completed a pair of enormous Bay Area real estate deals, selling two adjoining mansions in San Francisco for nearly $68 million and unloading a sprawling 161-acre property in Marin County for another $16 million. The transactions, completed within weeks of each other, brought in roughly $84 million and included some of the most valuable property connected to the Metallica co-founder. According to The San Francisco Standard, the 62-year-old Ulrich controlled the two neighboring homes in San Francisco’s prestigious Presidio Heights neighborhood through separate trusts. The properties sold on the same day in August 2026 for a combined $67.8 million. If the adjoining homes are viewed as a single compound, the transaction ranks as the second-highest residential sale in San Francisco history, behind Laurene Powell Jobs’ reported $71 million purchase on the city’s Billionaire’s Row in 2024.
The centerpiece of Ulrich’s San Francisco holdings was a roughly 16,000-square-foot mansion at 3277 Pacific Avenue, a historic home designed by prominent San Francisco architect Willis Polk in 1913 and inspired by an Italian palazzo. Ulrich acquired the property for $30 million in May 2017 through a trust connected to the family-office firm WG & S. The house had previously belonged to former Gap and J.Crew executive Mickey Drexler before Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff purchased it for $25 million in 2005. During Drexler’s ownership, celebrated French architect and designer Thierry Despont extensively remodeled the residence. Despont, whose clients included Bill Gates, Calvin Klein and Oscar de la Renta, gave the interiors a French-North African aesthetic, while the massive residence included an indoor swimming pool on its lower level. Benioff later carried out additional work on the property, although records reviewed by The Standard indicated Ulrich did not undertake similarly extensive renovations during his nearly decade-long ownership.
Ulrich expanded the estate by acquiring the approximately 6,000-square-foot house at 3230 Jackson Street, directly behind the Pacific Avenue mansion, from Benioff for $6 million in October 2018. Benioff himself had purchased the Jackson Street property for $7.5 million in 2000. The two homes have adjoining backyards and appear to be connected by a courtyard, effectively creating a massive private compound spanning approximately 22,000 square feet of living space. Ulrich therefore paid a combined $36 million for the two properties in 2017 and 2018. In the 2026 transaction, the Pacific Avenue mansion reportedly sold for approximately $55.8 million while the Jackson Street property brought another $12 million, producing a combined price of approximately $67.8 million. That represents roughly $31.8 million more than Ulrich’s combined acquisition price, before accounting for taxes, transaction costs or other expenses associated with owning the properties.
The identity of the new owner has not been publicly confirmed. The properties were acquired through two trusts managed by Robert Joseph St. Aubin, who has previously represented trusts connected to Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky. That connection has generated speculation about who ultimately purchased the compound, but there is currently no confirmation that Chesky himself is the buyer. The sale was conducted quietly, with the properties never hitting the traditional public market. The enormous combined price nevertheless makes Ulrich’s sale one of the landmark luxury real estate transactions in San Francisco, particularly because the two homes were sold together to the same buyer.
At nearly the same time, Ulrich parted with an even larger piece of Bay Area property that has a direct connection to Metallica history. The drummer sold approximately 161 acres atop King Mountain near Kentfield in Marin County for $16 million. Ulrich had been associated with the property for decades, and longtime Metallica fans may recognize it from the band’s revealing 2004 documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. During the film, Ulrich hikes to the top of the property with his father, Torben Ulrich, and Metallica’s then-therapist and performance coach Phil Towle as the band struggled through one of the most turbulent periods of its career. Ulrich’s trust had been connected to the Marin land since its purchase in 2001, making the sale the end of a roughly quarter-century chapter in his Bay Area real estate portfolio.
Ulrich once had extraordinarily ambitious plans for the King Mountain site. Architect Stanley Saitowitz designed a massive modern compound known as “Omega 3,” envisioned as a dramatic two-story structure constructed largely from black concrete and glass. Renderings showed floor-to-ceiling windows taking advantage of the property’s sweeping views, while plans included space for Ulrich’s music archives, a recording studio and a work room. The project advanced beyond the conceptual stage: Saitowitz said construction actually began and a foundation was poured before Ulrich abandoned the project. The land had eventually been approved for a compound of approximately 27,500 square feet. Ulrich later attempted to sell the property, reportedly seeking around $40 million in 2015 before subsequent asking prices dropped considerably.
Unlike the San Francisco compound, however, the King Mountain land will not become another ultra-exclusive private estate. It was purchased by the nonprofit Marin Open Space Trust with financial support from the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund. The organization intends to preserve the land and ultimately make it accessible to the public, adding the acreage to the region’s protected open space. The deal is particularly significant because the property represents one of the largest privately controlled pieces of land located within roughly 20 miles of San Francisco. Marin officials celebrated the acquisition as an opportunity that had once seemed virtually impossible, while the seller was reportedly willing to accept the $16 million price after learning that the land would be preserved rather than developed.
The two transactions continue a gradual reduction of Ulrich’s longtime Bay Area real estate holdings. The drummer previously owned a spectacular home in Tiburon that included panoramic views of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city skyline, along with a recording studio. That property, which was eventually controlled through a trust, sold for $10.3 million in January 2020 after having been offered for approximately $12 million. Ulrich originally purchased the Tiburon residence in the early 1990s, during the period when Metallica was transforming from a successful heavy metal band into one of the biggest musical acts in the world following the phenomenal success of its 1991 self-titled LP, aka The Black Album.
Taken together, Ulrich’s latest transactions represent approximately $84 million worth of Bay Area real estate sold within a matter of weeks. The $67.8 million Presidio Heights deal alone places the drummer in rare territory in San Francisco’s luxury housing market, while the $16 million Marin transaction carries a different kind of legacy by transforming land once envisioned as Ulrich’s secluded rock-star compound into protected public open space. After spending decades accumulating some extraordinary properties around the region where Metallica established its career, Ulrich has now parted with two of his most substantial holdings—one in a near-record-setting luxury sale and the other in a deal that will eventually allow the public to explore a piece of land that once appeared in one of the most intimate documentaries ever made about the band.