Located in San Francisco’s southeast corner, the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood has served as a key industrial center, and during World War II, a naval shipyard that attracted many Black workers from the South. Hunters Point soon became a middle-class, predominantly Black neighborhood—albeit one where the city chose to build a now-decommissioned power plant, as well as a large sewage treatment plant that is still in operation. The toxic effects of these facilities have impacted the health and wellbeing of generations of residents.
Neighborhood leaders and nonprofits, many of which SFF has supported, have long fought for environmental and health justice in Bayview-Hunters Point. That is why today we are proud to announce our continuing support for the neighborhood through the India Basin Waterfront Park Project.
Thanks to the leadership of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, in partnership with the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Trust for Public Land, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, and 30 neighborhood organizations, the neighborhood’s Shoreline Park will be transformed into a fully restored 10-acre waterfront park.
The project, which broke ground in 2021, includes the existing India Basin Shoreline Park area, located at 900 Innes Ave., and closes a critical gap in the San Francisco Bay Trail. The park will feature winding shoreline trails, a restored tidal landscape, and abundant recreational opportunities. The project will transform an off-limits, dilapidated holdover from the neighborhood’s industrial era into a thriving gathering place centered on community, equity, and restoration. Considered by the City of San Francisco to be the most ambitious effort of its kind to date, the project is scheduled to be completed in 2026.
Take a video tour of the India Basin Waterfront Park Project.
To date, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department has raised more than $186 million of the $200 million goal needed to complete the project, and to provide grants to the community organizations that will bring it to life. Private and public supporters include the John Pritzker Family Foundation, Crankstart Foundation, as well as the San Francisco Foundation.
In February 2024, the India Basin partnership entered into an agreement with the San Francisco Foundation to establish two funds to streamline administration and payments related to park construction and program delivery. One fund holds assets for capital expenditures and the second fund holds assets for the delivery of programs in the Equitable Development Plan that is integral to the project’s success. The Equitable Development Plan benefits current Bayview-Hunters Point residents while preserving the culture and identity of the historic neighborhood. It provides a blueprint for delivering a park designed by and for the community, while improving economic opportunity and environmental health for its residents.
To find out how you can support the India Basin Waterfront Park Project, please contact Pamela Doherty, Senior Director of Gift Planning, at pdoherty[at]sff.org or Demitrius Burnett, Senior Program Officer, at dburnett[at]sff.org.
