India Basin Waterfront Park opened in October, and it has immediately entered the ranks of the city’s most stunning parks. Incredibly, it’s only half-completed! Here’s the story on how one of the biggest park projects in San Francisco history came to be and what comes next.
Restoring a Damaged Ecosystem
India Basin Waterfront Park was once the site of shipbuilding operations. In the late 1800s, a boatyard and a shipwright’s cottage were built on the property that is now 900 Innes. Decades of industrial activity at the site contaminated the soil and water with metals and toxins. Pollution in the area became notorious enough that it was referenced in 2019 film The Last Black Man in San Francisco, where crews in hazmat suits are seen cleaning the area.
In fact, the project to clean up the area and eventually transform it into a park began in 2014, when the SF Recreation and Parks Department launched a partnership with Trust for Public Land (TPL), the A. Philip Randolph Institute (SFAPRI), and SF Parks Alliance. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to fund the cleanup, which was completed in August 2022.
A Park for Bayview Hunters Point
The India Basin Waterfront Project has been guided from the start by an Equitable Development Plan (EDP). The EDP was developed with community input to ensure that the park truly serves the community, from the first day of construction on.
The EDP has six focus areas:
- Arts, Culture & Identity
- Youth Opportunities
- Housing Security
- Connectivity, Transit, Access & Safety
- Workforce & Business Development
- Healthy Communities & Ecology
In practice, that has meant that local businesses were contracted for work on the project, swim lessons were provided to ensure local youth were comfortable in the water, and community art was installed at the park, among many other examples. You can learn more about the EDP here.
The Park Opens
The park finally opened to the public in October 2024. The area has been completely transformed. The park includes a food court, dock, and boat building center, offering direct access to the shoreline at India Basin for the first time. The original shipwright’s cottage was renovated and turned into a welcome center, where visitors can learn about the history of the space.
What Comes Next?
As transformative as the new park is, there is still more in the works. The park that neighbors the new India Basin Waterfront Park, India Basin Shoreline Park (we know, confusing), will soon close for construction. That timeworn park will be redeveloped and merge into India Basin Waterfront Park, which will ultimately be one grand 10-acre park. The area currently known as Shoreline Park will feature a new cookout terrace, playground, fitness station, and basketball courts. Check out some renderings of the soon-to-be completed park below!
The entire project is currently projected to be completed in 2026. In the meantime, we encourage you to visit the park, learn about an important part of San Francisco history, and enjoy getting closer to the water at India Basin (safely) than anyone has been able to in decades.
