Gene Friend Recreation Center Reopens in SoMa on August 13 After a $59 Million Rebuild

The Gene Friend Recreation Center reopens in SoMa on Thursday, August 13, 2026, with a grand opening at 11:30 a.m. San Francisco Recreation and Parks announced the date on July 22. The building is a full replacement rather than a renovation, and it has been closed to the public since December 2023.

What Was Built

The $59 million project produced a 25,000 square foot building with 50 percent more space than the one it replaces, according to Rec and Park’s project page. The gymnasium has two full-size basketball courts ringed by windows. The rest of the building holds an exercise area, a kitchenette, a reception area and office, and two multi-purpose rooms. One of those rooms opens directly onto a new exterior playground. Outside there is also a picnic area, a sport court, new landscaping and new lighting.

The entrance moved. The old center faced 270 Sixth Street; the new building’s main entry is on Harriet Street, and Rec and Park lists the grand opening address as 77 Harriet Street. Harriet runs parallel to Sixth, one block west, between Howard and Folsom.

Why It Took Two And A Half Years

Rec and Park began working with the neighborhood on improvements in 2014. A feasibility study concluded that upgrading the existing building would cost a lot and still not meet what the community asked for, so the department moved to a full replacement. The Recreation and Park Commission approved the concept design in September 2019.

The old center’s last day of operation was December 21, 2023. Demolition began April 19, 2024. Construction ran through 2025 and into 2026, and Rec and Park’s public updates logged the specifics along the way: deep soil mixing to stabilize the ground under the building, the first foundation concrete pour on April 21, 2025, the first window glass on October 17, 2025, and PG&E energization work this year.

What It Means For SoMa

Mission Local, which reported the reopening date on July 24, describes the center as SoMa’s only indoor recreational space. The August 13 date lands just as the San Francisco Unified School District year begins. For families in the neighborhood, that closes a gap that has run since the end of 2023.

The center sits inside the SoMa Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District. The original building went up in 1990 and was renamed in 2002 for Eugene L. Friend, who served on the Recreation and Park Commission for 24 years, 13 of them as its President. The gym has long been used for pickup basketball, including wheelchair basketball.

The project was funded largely by a voter-approved bond. Rec and Park also acquired an adjacent Sixth Street property that adds close to 10,000 square feet of outdoor space, planned as a future expansion of the site.

Practical Info

Grand opening: Thursday, August 13, 2026, 11:30 a.m.

Where: 77 Harriet Street, SoMa. The project site address is 270 Sixth Street.

Cost: Rec and Park facilities are free to enter; individual classes and programs are priced separately.

Getting there: The 12 Folsom stops at Folsom and 6th, about a block from the Harriet Street entrance. The 27 Bryant also runs on Folsom between 6th and 5th, though SFMTA has it on a temporary reroute in SoMa until further notice, so check the route page before you rely on it. Powell Street BART and Muni Metro is roughly a half mile north.

Details and future project updates are on Rec and Park’s Gene Friend Recreation Center project page. The reopening date was first reported by Mission Local.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Oasis reopened on 11th Street in July after its nonprofit bought the building.

Image: architect’s rendering of the Harriet Street elevation, San Francisco Recreation and Parks.