Greenbrae Neighborhood & Real Estate Guide
Greenbrae
Oak-covered hillsides above Corte Madera Creek, the Larkspur Ferry to San Francisco at the doorstep, Bon Air's 70-year community gathering place, and a central Marin location that puts the entire county within reach.
Marin's Green Hillside
"Greenbrae earns its name — lush, oak-studded hillsides rising above Corte Madera Creek and the bay, a 70-year-old community shopping center that still functions as a genuine gathering place, and a central Marin location that puts the entire county within a 15-minute radius."
Greenbrae is one of Marin County's most quietly excellent residential communities — a small, largely unincorporated area (partially within Larkspur's city limits) situated at the geographic heart of the county, bordered by downtown Larkspur to the south, Larkspur Landing and San Francisco Bay to the east, Kentfield to the west, and San Rafael to the north. Its name comes from the Scottish "brae," meaning hillside, and the green, oak-covered hills that rise above Sir Francis Drake Boulevard define both its visual character and its real estate. The Greenbrae Hills sub-district — streets with Spanish names winding north from Sir Francis Drake to a ridge separating Greenbrae from San Rafael — offers some of the most spectacular hill-and-bay view properties in central Marin, with unobstructed sightlines across the Bay to the East Bay hills and up to Mount Tamalpais's summit.
The community's history begins with Coastal Miwok people who used the area seasonally, followed by the Spanish land grant of Rancho Punta de Quentin to Captain Juan Bautista Cooper in 1840, and then James Ross, who established the Greenbrae Dairy after purchasing the land and clearing it for agriculture. In the late 19th century, the Remillard brothers established brickworks on the property whose bricks played a significant role in rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake — a connection to the city across the Bay that has persisted in different forms ever since. The former Bon Air Hotel, a popular Victorian-era summer resort on the site, gave way to what is now MarinHealth Medical Center (the former Marin General Hospital) in 1949. The community as it exists today was largely shaped by developer Niels Schultz, Sr., who in the mid-1940s acquired approximately 635 acres of the former dairy land and set about creating a planned residential community from the ground up — donating land for a school, fire department, recreational park, and yacht basin before selling a single home.
The Bon Air Shopping Center, which Schultz opened in 1952 as the community's first commercial anchor, has operated for over 70 years as a family-owned center and remains the social and commercial heart of Greenbrae. With 50 specialty merchants, restaurants, and services, and a history of community programming — holiday tree lightings, farmers market, music events — that the Schultz family has maintained across three generations, Bon Air is one of the few shopping centers in Marin that genuinely functions as a community gathering place rather than a retail facility. At the eastern edge of Greenbrae, the Marin Country Mart at Larkspur Landing provides a second commercial hub: an open-air market adjacent to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal, with weekly farmers markets, food trucks, live music, and direct water access for kayakers and paddleboarders who arrive by the Bay.
The Larkspur Ferry Terminal, at the eastern foot of Greenbrae, is the community's most significant practical asset: direct Golden Gate Ferry service to the San Francisco Ferry Building, departing multiple times daily, with a 30–35 minute crossing that is among the most pleasant commutes available anywhere in the Bay Area. The combination of Highway 101 frontage (for car commuters), the ferry (for the water route), and the central Marin location that makes Ross, Corte Madera, Larkspur, San Rafael, and Kentfield all within 10 minutes means that Greenbrae residents have effectively eliminated the commute problem — regardless of which direction they need to go.
Explore Greenbrae
Market Snapshot
Feb 2025 (Rocket Homes)
Per Sq. Ft.
Fall 2025 (ownmarin)
Connected Location
Greenbrae's real estate market reflects its position as a genuinely desirable central Marin community with a diverse housing stock — from hillside single-family homes with bay and Mt. Tam views to creek-side condominiums providing accessible Marin entry points. Rocket Homes tracked a February 2025 median listing price of $2.195 million (down 12% from the prior year on a small sample), while ownmarin.com's Fall 2025 market update noted a 31% year-over-year jump in Greenbrae's median price — an appropriately caveated figure given that Greenbrae's relatively low monthly transaction volume means individual large sales can significantly move the median. The Greenbrae Hills sub-district, with its hilltop views and larger lots, commands the neighborhood's premium pricing; condominium complexes along South Eliseo Drive and the hillside west of Bon Air offer entry points from approximately $600,000 for a two-bedroom unit.
The neighborhood's unusual diversity of housing types — from smaller mid-century homes in the hills to contemporary view estates, from creek-side condos to townhouses along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard — gives buyers across a significant price range a legitimate option in Greenbrae. MarinHealth Medical Center's presence as a major employer, the Larkspur Ferry Terminal's daily SF connection, and Greenbrae's position at the intersection of Highway 101 and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard (the gateway to Ross Valley's premium communities) make it one of the most practically well-positioned residential addresses in the county. Those fundamentals have sustained value through multiple market cycles.
Estimated Median Sale Price Trend (All Home Types)Sources: Rocket Homes (Feb 2025 median listing $2.195M), ownmarin.com (Fall 2025, +31% YoY — small sample caveat noted), BayAreaModern, Jeff Marples, marincounty.com. Greenbrae's transaction volume is low; medians can be significantly affected by individual large sales. SFH from ~$1M; condos from ~$600K. Verify current data with a licensed agent.
Dining & Local Businesses
The gathering place at the heart of Greenbrae — a family-owned outdoor shopping center that has served the community since 1952, when developer Niels Schultz built the neighborhood's first grocery store to serve the residential development he was constructing on the former Greenbrae Dairy. Bon Air has been in continuous operation for over 70 years, passed through three generations of the Schultz family, and maintained its community programming (tree lightings, farmers market, seasonal events) with a consistency that distinguishes it from every other shopping center in Marin. Fifty specialty merchants, restaurants, and services under Mount Tamalpais — a center that knows what it is and has always been it.
The Napa-born, Bay Area-beloved roadside burger institution — Gott's at Bon Air brings the Shack Burger, ahi tuna tacos, and the milkshake program that made the St. Helena original famous to the heart of Greenbrae's shopping center. Gott's is the lunch anchor of the Bon Air complex and draws from across central Marin with its combination of quality ingredients, outdoor seating under Mt. Tam views, and the particular American pleasure of a very good burger in the right setting.
A beloved Bon Air sushi restaurant that has been feeding central Marin's sushi appetite for years — fresh fish, dependable rolls, and the lunch specials that make Oyama a reliable weekday destination for the MarinHealth medical campus crowd and the Bon Air regulars who have been coming weekly since it opened. Oyama is the kind of neighborhood sushi restaurant that a community like Greenbrae sustains through loyalty rather than novelty.
The open-air shopping and dining destination at the foot of the Larkspur Ferry Terminal — a curated collection of restaurants, boutiques, and specialty retailers in a waterfront setting that hosts weekly farmers markets, food trucks, live music, and community events throughout the year. The Marin Country Mart's position adjacent to the ferry terminal means the Saturday farmers market can be accessed directly from the SF ferry, making it a destination for city visitors and a weekly institution for Greenbrae and Larkspur residents in equal measure.
Greenbrae's largest institution and one of the finest community hospitals in the Bay Area — the former Marin General Hospital, now operating as MarinHealth Medical Center in affiliation with UCSF Health, with the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital on the same campus. The medical complex is Greenbrae's primary employer and a significant anchor for property values — the concentration of physicians, researchers, and medical professionals who want to live close to their workplace sustains demand for Greenbrae housing at every price tier.
The Ferry, the Creek & the Open Hills
- Larkspur Ferry Terminal — SF Connection
The Golden Gate Ferry terminal at Larkspur Landing — at the eastern edge of Greenbrae — provides one of the Bay Area's finest commute options: direct service to the San Francisco Ferry Building, departing multiple times daily, with a 30–35 minute water crossing past Angel Island and under the Golden Gate Bridge's north tower. The ferry is Greenbrae's most distinctive practical amenity and the reason the neighborhood is genuinely popular with professionals who work in San Francisco but want Marin's lifestyle. The ferry terminal's Marin Country Mart complex provides an excellent morning coffee and evening return ritual.
- Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve
The Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve — part of the Marin County Open Space District's extraordinary network of protected wildlands — rises immediately above Greenbrae's hillside residential streets, offering trail access to dense redwood and Douglas fir forest, ridgeline views across the county, and the profound sense of wilderness that begins the moment you step off a residential street and into the trees. Trails from the preserve connect to the broader Mount Tamalpais trail network, making Greenbrae hillside residents some of the most trail-connected in all of Marin.
- Greenbrae Marina & Corte Madera Creek
The Greenbrae Marina along the tidal banks of Corte Madera Creek — where rowers, kayakers, and small motorboats share the waterway in the shadow of the Bay — provides the neighborhood's primary water recreation access. The creek's banks are walkable for a pleasant stroll between the marina and the Larkspur Landing complex. Bird-watching along the creek's tidal margins is exceptional, particularly for great blue herons, egrets, and the migratory shorebirds that use the estuary as a rest stop on the Pacific Flyway.
- MarinHealth Medical Center Campus
The MarinHealth Medical Center campus — which includes the main hospital, UCSF Health specialty clinics, and the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital — functions as more than a medical facility for Greenbrae residents: it is a major employer, an anchor of the neighborhood's professional demographic, and a significant practical advantage for families who value proximity to high-quality medical care. For Greenbrae homebuyers with healthcare-related priorities, the campus's presence in the neighborhood is a differentiating asset.
The Bon Air Legacy — 70 Years of Community
The story of Bon Air Shopping Center is the story of Greenbrae itself. When Niels Schultz, Sr. began developing the former Greenbrae Dairy land in the mid-1940s, he understood that a residential community needs commercial infrastructure to function — and he built Bon Air not as a profit center but as a community amenity, donating land for schools and parks before turning his attention to retail. The Bon Air Super Market opened in 1952 as the first grocery store in the new community; five more stores followed in 1955; Petrini's eventually replaced the market and became famous enough that Joe DiMaggio was a regular sighting in the pharmacy next door. The center has remained family-owned through three generations of Schultz management, and during the pandemic, Andrea Schultz — Niels' granddaughter — personally worked with each tenant to keep them in business. That kind of ownership stewardship is invisible in a shopping center's appearance but deeply visible in its character: Bon Air feels like a community gathering place because it has always been managed as one, by owners who live in the community it serves.
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