New public green space aims to revitalize troubled SF neighborhood

San Francisco welcomed a new park in SoMa, a neighborhood plagued by crime and public safety issues.

The Parks at 5M is a $20 million privately owned public space developed by Brookfield and built as a part of the larger 5M mixed-use development at Fifth and Mission streets, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Once a concrete lot the size of six tennis courts surrounded by a chain link fence, it now has green space, a stage, a playground, a dog run and artwork that muffles breezes and provides shade.

“This project and what it will do for this community is something we can all be proud of,” Mayor London Breed said at the opening on Tuesday.

The park was unveiled after a man was shot dead a few blocks away last summer. Less than a month ago, a 16-year-old girl who appeared to have suffered from a drug overdose was found dead nearby. Brookfield has promised to provide 24-hour on-site security, seven days a week, and keep it under continuous video surveillance.

The 5M mixed-use development is a 648,000-square-foot Class A office building and a residential building with more than 300 units, including some set aside for people with a middle to moderate income, according to the development’s website.

Thumbtack, a website that connects users with local service providers, leased the full 13th floor of 415 Natoma, a 640,000-square-foot 5M building that was the only big office tower completed in San Francisco last year. In a sign of how much the pandemic has changed traditional office building plans, the virtual-first company says it will use the space as a “library.”

“We’re intentionally not building an ‘office,’” Thumbtack Executive Jelena Djordjevic said.

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