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.
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.
Japantown Center will remain open throughout construction. All entrances will remain open to the public. Please visit and shop local!
Funding
To begin the essential work for the community, $25 million of the 2020 SF Health and Recovery Bond is allocated for the renovation project.
Due to unforeseen pandemic-related construction impacts, the results of further analysis and testing of the existing conditions, and additional planning to better accommodate the garden or greening aspect of the plan, the budget has now shifted to an estimated $33.5 million. Thanks in part to the steadfast advocacy work of the Japantown community in partnership with RPD, we have been able to address the $8.5 million funding gap through state and federal grants. We look forward to moving onto the next step; preparation of construction documents.
In 2021, Rec and Park replaced the expansion joints located on east and west edges of plaza to protect from water intrusion. This improvement will remain throughout the future full renovation of the plaza. The expansion joints, approximately $350,000, were funded equally by Rec Park and MTA.
Project Schedule
| Phase | Timeline |
| Planning | Summer 2018 |
| Design | Winter 2020 |
| Construction | Spring 2024 |
| Open to the public | Late 2025 |
Project Updates
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