Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed formally approved the new Eagle Plaza. Anticipated to be the cornerstone of the city’s LGBTQ Leather Cultural District, the plaza will be located at 12th and Harrison streets, across from the historic gay bar of the same name.

With approvals in place, proponents of the plaza are hoping to have it largely completed before the annual Folsom Street Fair, which will be held on September 29. Billed as "the world's biggest leather event," the fair draws upwards of 250,000 visitors each year.

To sustain the momentum needed to get the plaza open in time, Friends of Eagle Plaza (FoEP) is hosting a community meeting tomorrow night, February 26, at the Eagle, where they'll discuss fundraising plans and next steps. 

First introduced in 2015, the plaza is a component of developer Build Inc.'s new mixed-use project at 1532 Harrison St., which will replace a former surface parking lot. In addition to Eagle Plaza, the project will include 136 residential units — 22 of them designated as affordable — as well as 85 below-ground parking spaces, 136 bike parking spots, and a cafe on the corner of 12th and Harrison streets. 

The full development is expected to be completed sometime in 2020, Build Inc. spokesperson Veronica Bell told us. 

In the meantime, Build Inc. and the San Francisco Parks Alliance have helped grow the FoEP, which consists of community members, nearby property owners, and other area stakeholders, and which will oversee maintenance and operation of the new open space. 

Funding for the plaza’s operations and maintenance will largely come from the agreement Build Inc. signed with the city as part of constructing the new development. But if a Western SoMa Community Benefit District is formed, its annual budget could be used to complement the cleaning and beautification programs already planned for Eagle Plaza, according to FoEP. 

Property owners in the neighborhood have voted in favor of creating the Western SoMa CBD, and the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider a resolution to do so at its March 5, 2019 meeting.   

With that said, the timeline for Eagle Plaza's development is still pending ongoing fundraising efforts, according to Build Inc.'s Bell. 

Anyone interested in contributing to the effort, or adopting one of the plaza’s gardens, is encouraged to participate in tomorrow night’s FoEP meeting. The meeting will be held from 7-8 p.m. at the Eagle, which is located at the corner of 12th and Harrison streets.