Embarcadero Plaza Will Be Renamed Art Agnos Plaza in a New Waterfront Park

The public space in front of the Ferry Building is getting a new name along with its rebuild. Mayor Daniel Lurie moved on Friday, August 28 to name the southern half of the future Embarcadero Park after former mayor Art Agnos, according to a press release from his office reported by KTVU. The northern half would be called Sue Bierman Commons.

What Is Being Built

Embarcadero Park combines two existing spaces, Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park, into a single five-acre waterfront park. The design adds lawns, picnic and dining areas, performance and recreation space, an enclosed dog run, better pedestrian connections, and gathering areas sized for both ordinary weekday use and large civic events.

Construction is expected to start in late 2026 and finish in early 2028. The Downtown Development Corporation has committed $20 million toward it, including $10 million from Crankstart, a San Francisco foundation. Shola Olatoye, the corporation’s chief executive, said in the release that the group is still raising the remaining capital.

Who the Two Names Belong To

Art Agnos was mayor of San Francisco from 1988 to 1992. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero Freeway, he chose to tear the double-decker structure down rather than repair it, which reconnected downtown to the waterfront and made the Ferry Building visible from Market Street again. The promenade people now walk along the Embarcadero occupies the space that decision opened up.

Sue Bierman was a neighborhood activist, a planning commissioner and a member of the Board of Supervisors. She died in 2006. She was a leader of the San Francisco Freeway Revolt, the campaign that stopped plans to run a freeway through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park.

District 3 supervisor Danny Sauter, who represents the area, said in the release that both were instrumental in turning a freeway into an accessible waterfront.

What Happens Next

The naming proposal goes before the Recreation and Park Commission’s Capital Committee on September 2. At the same meeting the committee will consider a donor recognition program that would commemorate qualifying donors in the finished park.

Visiting in the Meantime

The plaza is at the foot of Market Street across the Embarcadero from the Ferry Building, and the Embarcadero BART and Muni Metro station sits directly underneath. The F Market and Wharves historic streetcar stops alongside it. The Ferry Building and its marketplace stay open through the park construction. Our September guide covers what else is happening downtown this month.

Photo: Kylelovesyou, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.