Japantown Peace Plaza Renovation Project

Background

The Japantown Peace Plaza (Peace Plaza) Renovation Project is vital to the Japanese American community, Asian American and Pacific Islander community. For over 110 years, over 5 generations, San Francisco’s Japantown is one of the last three remaining Japantowns in the United States. The Peace Plaza open space has been the cultural heart of the Japantown and is a key destination site for cultural festivals and community celebrations in Northern California. It is home to culturally significant community organizations, institutions, artists, businesses, and buildings.

In 2021, Rec and Park temporarily replaced the waterproofing within the seismic joints that run along the east and west sides of the plaza. As part of the current project, these seismic joints will receive new waterproofing to ensure a successful seal.

Scope of Work

The Peace Plaza Vision Plan, video attached, is an inspiration for the future of Japantown’s central public space. An extensive community engagement process resulted in the visionary framework informing both design and future construction. The renovated plaza will have all new features: new paving (over new waterproofing), planting, informal seating, and maintain the highly used, central gathering space for cultural events. To learn more about the design, please see our Civic Design Review presentation, March 20, 2023 (PDF) .

Japantown Center will remain open throughout construction. All entrances will remain open to the public. Please visit and shop local!

Funding

$25 million from the 2020 SF Health and Recovery Bond was initially allocated for this renovation and an additional $9 million in grants was added through the steadfast advocacy work of the Japantown community in partnership with RPD. Sources of the grant were $3 million from Economic Development Initiative, Community Project Funding Grant (via Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi) and $6 million from the California Natural Resources Agency (via Former Assemblymember Phil Ting).

The construction contract award for this project was approved by Recreation and Parks Commission on December 21, 2023 ( PDF ). This construction contract award obtained and complies with all city, state, and federal regulatory approvals, including any that are specific to this project’s funding sources.

Estimated Project Schedule

Planning , Summer 2018

Design , Winter 2020

Construction contract awarded , December 21, 2023

Construction begins , Spring 2024

Open to the Public , Fall 2026

Project Updates Monthly Public Meetings, every fourth Tuesday, 5-6 p.m. Japantown Task Force (JTF), Peace Plaza Committee holds monthly public meetings. Please visit the committees page of the Japantown Task Force website for agenda, location (zoom link or in-person), meeting minutes, and any updates: https://www.japantowntaskforce.org/peace-plaza-committee

If you would like to receive updates about the Japantown Peace Plaza Renovation Project, please visit the News Flash section of our webpage and subscribe to " Rec Park Improvements: Japantown Peace Plaza ." To receive updates about all our active projects, subscribe to “Rec Park Improvements | All Project Updates.”

Contact Us

J. Marien Coss

Project Manager Email Phone: 1-628-652-6647

Japantown Peace Plaza Community Vision Plan (August 2019) from Playhou.se on Vimeo .