900 Innes Avenue, San Francisco, CA

Project Description

San Francisco’s India Basin and Hunters Point-Bayview neighborhoods border the Bay in an area once defined by industry. But when shipyards and factories closed, the vibrant, multi-cultural community watched as economic opportunity left and environmental contamination stayed behind. This industrial history, paired with other land use decisions such as freeway siting, has contributed to comparatively worse health outcomes for residents and inhibited access to jobs, open space, and services. To address this legacy, the community is concentrating on creating and improving local parks in an effort to rebuild public health.

One site identified for open space redevelopment was 900 Innes Avenue. The India Basin Boatyard at 900 Innes operated for more than 100 years. The yard closed in the 1990s and the fell into disrepair. Located between homes and the shore, residents and the City knew the old boatyard held great opportunity to provide open space, recreation, and climate resiliency benefits.

In 2010 EPA awarded the San Francisco Parks Alliance $175,000 to plan the Blue Greenway through a Brownfields Areawide Planning grant. From 2010-2018, CCLR helped the SF Departments of Parks and Environment obtain planning, cleanup, and workforce development grants to train locals in environmentally related jobs. Additional project funding came from various sources, including: SF Bay Restoration Authority, RPD Open space acquisition funds, DTSC, State of California, RPD bond funding, Measure AA and U.S. EPA San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Funds.

It took 18 months to remove abandoned structures, restore soft bottom habitats and haul out soil contaminated with metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls. Cleanup crews used large inflatable dams to hold back the Bay to facilitate the removal of contaminated soil and concrete from below the shoreline and install a sand cap to protect the tidal mudflats. In total: 2,500 truck-trips removed 52,000 tons of contaminated material from the site. The park’s updated infrastructure mean the neighborhood is more resilient to storm surge and sea level rise. While the habitat restoration efforts will support biodiversity for a clean, functional ecosystem for future generations.

Opened in October 2024, the park hosts a food pavilion for food vending and cooking classes, a makers’ shop, a boat repair workshop, an amphitheater and public art, including Raylene Gorum’s 5,580 square foot mural “Lady Bayview.” Gorum’s work honors the Big Five of Bayview, a group of Black women who advocated for housing, health and community wellbeing in the 1960s and 70s. A Historic Shipwright Cabin, built in 1875, was also restored and turned into a museum. The Waterfront Park project’s dedication to equitable development means reuse plans include ample opportunities for waterfront recreation including trails, fitness equipment, basketball courts, a cookout terrace, docks, free rowing groups and a swim class program.

The India Basin Waterfront Park is a historic reinvestment in Hunters Point-Bayview, supporting a healthy and vibrant future in the city’s SouthEast edge.