Installed: November 19, 2014 to September 2016
Designed By: CMG Landscape Architecture
Installed By: Angotti & Reilly
Sponsored and Funded Fully By: Yerba Buena Community Benefit District
“San Francisco streets and public spaces are being transformed with new plazas, pedestrian safety improvements and more innovative approaches to improve the urban experience for our residents and visitors,” said Mayor Ed Lee. “The Pavement to Parks program and the Yerba Buena CBD working together with the neighborhood and community have created this new and imaginative Annie Alley public plaza for our entire city to enjoy.”
SITE BACKGROUND
Annie Street Plaza is a new pedestrian space in downtown San Francisco that opened in November 2014. New seating, greenery, and lighting - along with programmed events and activities - create a special new place in the heart of a thriving neighborhood. For recent press coverage, see the list of articles below.
Annie Street is an important pathway for pedestrians connecting Market Street and Mission Street. The Plaza makes it safer for high volumes of pedestrians who use the alley every day to travel from Market Street to Mission Street – where there are numerous museums, galleries, and other community institutions.
Images above are from our Flickr gallery. You can see more tagged photos and videos of Annie Street Plaza page on Facebook by clicking here.
Annie Street Plaza is part of the YBCBD’s award-winning Yerba Buena Street Life Plan, a road map of more than 30 projects for enhancing public spaces in the neighborhood. The Street Life Plan Plan and idea for the plaza came from neighborhood businesses, cultural institutions, nonprofits and residents over four years of community outreach and planning. Designs and programming ideas for the plaza were created through a year-long community review process involving several public meetings. The Yerba Buena Community Benefit District sponsors all the stewardship, maintenance, activation and public safety programs on the site.
DESIGN DETAILS
CMG Landscape Architecture created the design of the plaza, incorporating feedback from public meetings and numerous City departments. All the plaza elements are ‘reversible’ - in other words, engineered to leave no permanent impact on the existing street and sidewalks. Angotti & Reilly installed the Plaza in October and November 2014.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
Street Plaza Pop Ups:
Past trial closures of the street have been a great success. The location has hosted dance performances, movies, festivals and luncheons bringing people together in Yerba Buena and creating a sense of community. Throughout 2012 and 2013, Annie Alley was closed to traffic for events lasting up to one week. These closures demonstrated how the plaza could be successfully programmed if converted to a pedestrian-only space. Events organized by SPUR with a grant from the YBCBD included daytime picnics and dance performances; evening concerts, film sceenings, and block parties.
Above images courtesy of Flickr user SPUR, Creative Commons attribution.
Outreach Meetings & Events:
Above images courtesy of YBCBD.
- 12/2010 - 08/2011: YBCBD Street Life Plan public workshops and final publication (see pages 18-19 for timeline). The plan includes Annie Street Plaza (see pages 72-75) and other alleys. (prepared by CMG for the YBCBD)
- 07/20/2012: Demonstration Closure of Annie Street: Picnic organized by SPUR
- 09/19/2012: YBCBD Streets Committee Meeting (hosted YBCBD; Committee Meetings are open to the public)
- 10/17/2012: YBCBD Streets Committee Meeting (hosted by YBCBD; Committee Meetings are open to the public)
- 10/17/2012: YBCBD Streets Committee Meeting, Annie Plaza Update. (prepared by YBCBD; Committee Meetings are open to the public)
- 11/13/2012: Public Presentation to YBCBD Streets Committee (prepared by YBCBD and CMG; Committee Meetings are open to the public)
- 02/13/2013: YBCBD Board of Directors Approves Implementation of Annie Street Plaza (YBCBD Board Meetings are open to the public)
- 05/06 2013: Meeting with managers of nearby properties (Prepared by YBCBD and hosted in the Hearst Bldg, 2nd Floor Conference Room)
- 05/20/2013 - 5/24/2013: Demonstration closure of Annie Street, daytime and evening events organized by SPUR
- 05/20/2013: “City Picnic”
- 05/21/2013: Forum and lectures
- 05/22/2013: Evening Film Screening of “TINY: A Story About Living Small”
- 05/23/2013: Arts & Diaglogue Concert
- 05/22/2013: Dance Performance “Everybody Cut Footloose”
- 05/28/2013: Public Meeting materials
- Presentation Slides (Prepared by YBCBD and CMG and hosted by the California Historical Society)
- Presentation Boards (Prepared by YBCBD and CMG and hosted by the California Historical Society)
- Community Survey (Prepared by YBCBD and CMG and hosted by the California Historical Society)
- 06/25/2013: Public Meeting: Presentation Slides (prepared by YBCBD and CMG)
- 11/01/13: Meeting with the Friends of Annie Alley Group
- 02/13/2013: YBCBD Board Meeting (hosted by YBCBD; Committee Meetings are open to the public)
- 09/28/2013: Demonstration Closure of Annie Street: “Brews on the Block” organized by Novela
- 11/01/2013: Meeting with the Friends of Annie Alley Group, hosted by the Palace Hotel
- 06/27/2014: Demonstration Closure of Annie Street: 1-year Anniversary Party for Novela
- 07/18/2014: YBCBD Streets Committee: Annie Plaza Design Alternatives (prepared by YBCBD and CMG)
- 06/09/2016: YBCBD Community Meeting, hosted by SPUR
- 07/27/2016: YBCBD Community Meetings (afternoon and evening), hosted by 111 Minna Gallery
- 08/08/2016: YBCBD Community Meeting, hosted by the California Historical Society
PHOTOS
MEDIA COVERAGE
- 06/2015, Planning: The Magazine of the American Planning Association: “Green Infrastructure Grows Up” (Rebecca Leonad, AICP)
- 11/25/2014, San Francisco Chronicle: “S.F.’s newest public space provides invitation to sit, linger” (John King)
- 11/21/2014, Mass Transit Magazine: “Annie Street Plaza Unveiled”
- 11/21/2014, Streetsblog SF: “Annie Alley Transformed Into a Downtown Gathering Space” (Aaron Bialick)
- 11/20/2014, Press Release: “Annie Street Plaza Unveiled” (YBCBD and SF Planning)
- 11/19/2014, SF Curbed: “New Pedestrian Oasis at Annie Street Plaza Opens Tonight” (Lamar Anderson)
- 11/17/2014, Landscape Architecture Daily: “A New Plaza in San Francisco!”
- 10/16/2014, SF Curbed: “Yerba Buena’s Annie Alley to Pop Up As a Pedestrian Oasis” (Tracy Elsen)
- 10/14/2014, Socketsite: “Under Construction and Designed to Activate the Alleyways”
For more information on past and upcoming events through YBCBD, see the Annie Plaza Facebook Page. 
CONTACT
Robin Abad Ocubillo, Project Manager
