Lurie signs legislation to bring in $14.5 million for Powell Street improvements
Shoppers navigate the rain and ride the Powell Street cable car near San Francisco's Union Square on Tuesday evening Dec. 23, 2025. (Photo by Aidin Vaziri/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco’s Powell Street is on the road to being improved.
Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday signed legislation allowing the city to accept $14.5 million in private funding from the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation to revitalize the Powell Street Corridor.
"With our Heart of the City plan, we are building a downtown that is full of energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today, we are taking another major step toward that reality with an investment that will help transform Powell Street into a world-class gateway connecting visitors, workers, residents, and shoppers to Union Square and the heart of downtown San Francisco," Lurie said in a press release.
What we know:
The Powell Street Improvement Project is a public-private partnership designed to enhance the safety and cleanliness of the Powell Street corridor. The plan calls for the "reimagination of the streetscape" along three blocks from Market Street to Geary Street. Design features include new and widened sidewalks, fresh landscaping, and updated cable car stops, as well as the connection of the cable car turnaround at Market Street to historic Union Square.
A release from Lurie’s office states the street will be lined with "art nouveau-inspired hanging lanterns" in a nod to the area’s historic architecture. The lanterns will use programmable, multicolor LEDs. The redesign also calls for a starburst chandelier to be suspended from the cable car turnaround at Market and Powell Streets.
The investment from the Downtown Development Corporation augments $26 million in public funding from the 2024 Healthy, Safe and Vibrant San Francisco Bond, as well as the pot of local sales tax revenue designated for transportation projects.
Dig deeper:
Construction on the Powell Street improvement is expected to start this fall, and be largely completed in 2027.
San Francisco-based firms Field Operations and SITELAB Urban Studio are leading the design, with San Francisco Public Works serving as project and construction manager, and providing engineering and design support.
"We are laying the foundation for a generational transformation of our iconic shopping district, a future that will welcome even more residents, tourists, and students into our downtown," Anne Taupier, Executive Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development said in a statement. "We value community-driven projects like this that dream big about what our downtown can become. The redesign of Powell Street goes above and beyond what the city could accomplish on its own, and this private investment gives us added momentum to make this dream possible."