City’s pricey public toilet finally arrives

When Assembly Member Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, announced he had secured funding for one of his constituents’ infrastructure priorities in 2022, he never expected such a negative response. Voters were upset — not that he had gotten the money, but because he had to get so much of it.

So began the yearslong saga of a public toilet so expensive that citizens wondered whether it would be made of gold.

Now, after twists and turns, tantrums and triumphs, the toilet has finally been delivered to the city. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department announced its arrival on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.

“The eagle has landed!” The tweet reads. “The world’s most famous & eagerly anticipated prefab toilet touched down this morning at Noe Valley Town Square, & installation is flowing smoothly. A few final touches, like utility & landscaping, & this project will be in the can by the end of March.”

Noe Valley Town Square was created out of a church parking lot in 2016. At the time, the peaceful common on the 24th Street shopping corridor had umbrellas, tables and a small playground, and played host on Saturday mornings to a bustling farmers’ market.

But what it lacked was a restroom. After public pressure, the city came forward in October 2022 with a long-awaited proposal that carried a projected cost of $1.7 million and was slated to take two years to build.

Haney told the Chronicle in an October 2022 interview that he asked for the amount of money the city’s Recreation and Park Department estimated the bathroom would end up costing. Much like coming out with new trash cans, building the bathroom meant clearing hurdles unique to San Francisco, the same ones that make it the most expensive city in the world in which to build. The project had to be cleared by multiple city departments, presented to the public for community feedback and studied for environmental impact.

After an October 2022 article by then-Chronicle columnist Heather Knight brought attention to the cost, Haney abruptly canceled a celebration he had planned for securing the funding, and Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would not pay until the city lowered the project cost.

City officials updated their projections in January 2023, announcing the price had been brought down to $725,000. The lower price was possible, officials said, due to a gift of toilet and installation work estimated to be worth $425,000, and to a reduction of $491,000 in project costs.

The project’s timeline also shortened. What was originally predicted to take until 2025 would be ready over the summer of 2023, city officials announced in January 2023. That didn’t happen; city officials told the Chronicle last month they would need until the end of April. Thursday’s announcement that the toilet will be ready by the end of March shortens that timeline by four weeks.

San Francisco Recreation and Park Department The eagerly anticipated prefab — and pricey — public toilet was delivered to Noe Valley Town Square on Thursday.