San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Buchanan Street park fully funded, set for renovation
“The community has shaped every aspect of the plan for Buchanan Street Mall. This is their vision and reflects the neighborhood’s rich culture and history. We are so excited to bring the design to life.”
Renovation of Buchanan Street Mall, a 5-block community space in San Francisco’s Western Addition, is now fully funded thanks to a $3.9 million federal grant announced late last week.
The funding came from the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, administered through the National Park Service. It puts over the top a $27 million project that includes grants from city, state and federal sources. The single largest source was a $5.8 million grant from the statewide parks program made available through Proposition 68, a 2018 bond measure.
Construction is expected to start in 2023 and will eventually include a plaza, playground, sports courts, a stage, lawn area and a Memory Walk to tell the story of the neighborhood dating back to the old days of the Fillmore district. When completed, the mall will run from Eddy Street to Grove Street. A walking patch and exercise area will connect all five blocks. The park will cover the area that was once the two-lane Buchanan Street. The five-block stretch was closed and vacated during urban renewal. It is still mostly pavement with patches of grass. “As someone who grew up in the Western Addition, I am proud to see this communityfocused project move forward,” said Mayor London Breed, in announcing the federal grant. “Parks and public spaces are critical for the development and well-being of our communities, and as we continue to recover from the pandemic, we need to ensure that we are investing in public
Phil Ginsburg, general manager, S.F. Recreation and Park Department
spaces for all San Franciscans to grow and thrive.”
Funding for the mall is the only Bay Area component of a $61 million pool of grants to 26 cities nationwide, announced May 6 by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz. One-third of the grant money is coming to California.
The Buchanan Street Mall was built by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and opened to the public in 1975. One year later it was transferred to the care of the Recreation and Park Department, which will oversee the construction project.
“The community has shaped every aspect of the plan for Buchanan Street Mall,” said Rec and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg. “This is their vision and reflects the neighborhood’s rich culture and history. We are so excited to bring the design to life.”
It has taken eight years to cobble together the funds to renovate the park, but the
Federal officials granted San Francisco $3.9 million to renovate the Buchanan Street Mall, shown in 2015. The park will eventually include a plaza, playground, sports courts and a stage.
A rendering of what the park will look like once the $27 million project is completed in 2024.
Memory Walk, which is intended to share the story of this historically Black neighborhood through original artworks and interpretive displays, is still in the fundraising phase.
The mall will remain open until next spring when construction
begins, with a final completion date estimated to be June 2024.
“The engagement and design process has already increased neighborhood cohesiveness,” said project manager Lauren Dietrich Chavez, who works for Rec and Park.
“This will be an amazing community park that people from all over the city are going to want to visit.”