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Union Square

Plaza

Union Square (plaza, run by the Recreation and Park Department): $24,252 paid to contractors for work here, $250.4M budgeted for its department in FY2025, 2,161 employees on the payroll, 2 contracts, 9 city documents at the Internet Archive, every figure linked to its source. Union Square's archive spans its life as a public plaza and its surrounding retail district: 1978 environmental impact reports for the neighboring Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue stores describe it as a state-registered landmark, mid-1990s 'Destination Downtown' streetscape plans address its edges and entrances, and Board of Park Commissioners minutes from 1941 record elevations and specifications for the square itself. A 1999 Finance Committee record discusses improvements to Union Square Park and its garage. The plaza is operated by the Recreation and Park Department (FY2025 budget line ~$250M); a contract for 'Union Square Activations' with Biederman Redevelopment Ventures Corp has paid about $1.4M. Source: SF Controller open data and the Internet Archive.

Union SquareWikimedia Commons · Dllu · CC BY-SA 4.0
Grounded summary

Union Square's archive spans its life as a public plaza and its surrounding retail district: 1978 environmental impact reports for the neighboring Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue stores describe it as a state-registered landmark, mid-1990s 'Destination Downtown' streetscape plans address its edges and entrances, and Board of Park Commissioners minutes from 1941 record elevations and specifications for the square itself. A 1999 Finance Committee record discusses improvements to Union Square Park and its garage. The plaza is operated by the Recreation and Park Department (FY2025 budget line ~$250M); a contract for 'Union Square Activations' with Biederman Redevelopment Ventures Corp has paid about $1.4M.

Built from: 9 archive documents, 2 contracts, city budget data — no outside knowledge added.
$24,252
paid to contractors for work here

360 Powell St · City-owned · 4 buildings · parcel 0308001 · District 3 · City Facilities registry

What public money did here
Paid to contractors for work here$24,252
Theatre Bay AreaFY2018$24,252

What the City actually paid, across 1 contractor. Contractors big enough to have their own page are linked; the rest are named only.

The contracts that name this place2
Union Square ActivationsBIEDERMAN REDEVELOPMENT VENTURES CORP · ECN$1.4MUnion Square 291 Geary StUnion Square Building LLC · POL$74,900 agreed

Every line opens that contract’s own page, with its spend curve and its subcontractors. Agreed amounts are ceilings, not spending.

Run by the Recreation & Parks, whose whole-department budget is $250.4M across 2,161 staff (FY2025) — citywide, not this place’s own. The City does not publish a running cost per building.

In the archive
See 4 more documents

1 procedural record — minutes, agendas, calendars — not listed.

Same kind
Alamo SquareBalboa ParkBuchanan Street MallBuena Vista Park

See also

Other places run by the Recreation and Park Department, and the department's contracts.

Golden Gate ParkPark, also run by the Recreation and Park Department$25.5MCrane Cove ParkPark, also run by the Recreation and Park Department$19.5MJapantown Peace PlazaPark, also run by the Recreation and Park Department$16.0MPortsmouth SquarePlaza, also run by the Recreation and Park Department$6.7MRecreation and Park Department: every active contractWhat the department buys, and from whomEvery San Francisco place on the siteParks, libraries, hospitals, piers, and the contract money paid for work at each