Marin tech entrepreneur investing millions to preserve Point Reyes Station's historic charm

A Bay Area tech entrepreneur is investing millions of dollars to preserve the character of Point Reyes Station to balance change, tourism, and preservation in the small Marin County town.

Chris Hulls is buying historic buildings, supporting local businesses to try to address the changes in the historic, unincorporated town along Highway 1 in West Marin.

For Hulls, preserving places like The Old Western Saloon in town has become a personal mission The saloon and accompanying hotel look like a piece of living history, with its weathered sign out front and antique cash register inside sitting as a reminder of another era.

The founder of the family safety app Life360 has spent millions buying and restoring historic properties in the town through a nonprofit called the Good Luck Fund.

"We're preserving the Old Western," Hulls said. "This used to be an empty yard that had basically been closed for 50 years. The old building was falling apart."

The saloon has reopened with live music while maintaining many of its original features, including parts of the historic bar and glass windows.

Hulls grew up in Point Reyes Station and attended school nearby. He believes the community is facing pressures that threaten its character, including rising rents, short-term vacation rentals and development that he says does not fit the town's identity.

To address those concerns, Hulls has committed roughly $15 million to establish the Good Luck Fund, which acquires and preserves properties considered important to the community. The fund's goal is to protect local businesses, maintain affordable commercial rents and prevent properties from being converted into uses that serve primarily tourists or second-home owners.

Among the properties preserved is the town's only pharmacy, which recently reopened.  

"Right now, we still do feel like a small town and a small community," Hulls said. "But I do look at other towns in the area, which really have lost that. They're all Airbnbs, all second homeowners. We're on the precipice. It could really go either way."

Some real estate experts have questioned whether a preservation-focused investment model can be sustained over the long term. Still, local business owners say the effort is helping keep jobs and services in the community.

"Wealth comes in where you kind of get this two-class system of the wealthy person and the person serving them," Hulls said. "We can buck that trend by keeping businesses more available to locals, having decent rent and making sure buildings are used appropriately."

Just across the street from the Old Western, construction is underway on Bar Auklet, a new restaurant opening inside the former Station House Cafe, another property acquired by the Good Luck Fund. 

Owner Shannon Gregory said the nonprofit offered a lease structure focused on community success rather than maximizing profit.

"A very good lease, very thoughtful, and only for the businesses to thrive and hire local people, and to make this a community place, as well as for the tourists," Gregory said.

Hulls said the fund allows property owners to support local businesses without dramatically increasing rents as market conditions change. Gregory said that approach helped convince her to move forward with the project.

"Towns like this are historic, and people like to come here and see the same thing over and over again," Gregory said. "The locals don't like to change either, because they live here and they want to feel the same and be the same, and not have outside people doing business in their town."

Hulls acknowledges change is inevitable.

"This was a town where people were very civic-minded and active, and we lost some of that," he said. "We cannot fight the tourists. We need to peacefully coexist with them. We can't fight change. Eventually everything, the sun's going to explode, the oceans will melt, but we can navigate it. We can slow it down."

For now, Hulls hopes a combination of private investment and community support can help preserve some of what makes Point Reyes Station unique.

Hulls said he originally planned to establish the nonprofit anonymously, but has since embraced a more public role. 

The Good Luck Fund has also purchased a property in nearby Inverness. The organization is seeking investors willing to accept modest returns in exchange for preserving historic buildings, supporting local businesses and maintaining the character of West Marin communities.