History

Founders  

The Southeast Community Facility (SECF), located at 1800 Oakdale Avenue, and the adjacent Greenhouses at 1150 Phelps Street, were constructed to mitigate the adverse environmental and social impacts of the Southeast Treatment Plant expansion projects during the 1970’s and 1980’s. The SECF and Greenhouses are facilities owned by the city, and operated and maintained by the SFPUC for the benefit of the Bayview Hunters Point community. Below is a timeline with key milestones. For the full legal history, read it here or watch the video presentation.

 

Southeast Community Facility Recent Key Milestones

2011

  • A community assessment conducted in 2011 in partnership with the SECFC and tenants, residents and community leaders identified that the aging building needed substantial physical improvements for better programming and to increase neighborhood usage. The decision was made to renovate the building in two phases. A smaller renovation on the Phelps Wing would help to determine the practicality of renovating the entire building.

2014

  • In 2014, Phase 1 renovations were completed. Renovations to the Phelps Wing included enhanced usability of classrooms and adding administrative space.

  • Also in 2014, the SFPUC began plans to renovate a vacant five-acre property on the corner of Third and Evans (1550 Evans) for the purpose of providing office space to SFPUC wastewater personnel, that were dispersed in multiple leased locations in the Southeast.

  • The cost for Phase II renovations at 1800 Oakdale was estimated at $35-40M.  The evaluation of overall cost, and efficacy of Phase I investments indicated that the costs estimates were likely low.  In addition, despite the size of the investment in Phase II, the outdated plumbing and mechanical systems, confusing layout, lack of natural lighting, and limited parking revealed that it was not the best use of funds and would not address many of the structural deficiencies of the facility.

2015

  • In 2015, the SFPUC along with tenants and key stakeholders explored the options of (1) building a new SECF at Third and Evans or (2) renovating 1800 Oakdale. There was also the possibility of including an adjoining academic building in partnership with potential educational partners (including San Francisco State University, City College and SFUSD) at Third and Evans. Since community stakeholders positively viewed the option to build a new SECF, feedback suggested that a community-facing outreach process would help to determine the pros and cons of both options. Then the SFPUC halted plans to move wastewater operations to Third and Evans to undertake extensive public outreach.

 

 

2016

  • The SFPUC elected to conduct a transparent and inclusive outreach process in collaboration with 16 Bayview community partners in 2016.

 

The effort included:

  • Knocking on 2,400 doors surrounding the facility and surveying 1,200 residents, including those in public housing

  • Attending 20 community events

  • Hosting a youth-led survey competition and 13 focus groups

  • Collecting over 1,000 in-depth surveys with over 500 comments submitted, two-thirds from residents in the 94124 zip code.

 

  • Survey respondents were asked to indicate a preference for a community center based on 1) their own personal perception of the center and 2) how it could best serve them and the community. Out of the survey respondents that indicated a preference, 71% prefered building new on Third at Evans.  

 

Present

  • The planning and design process for the new SECF at 1550 Evans is underway. The SFPUC and Southeast Community Facility Commission in partnership with the community will continue to work together throughout each phase of the project. Learn about how you can get involved and engaged in the process.