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Board approves vacation of part of James Alley to finalize Chinese Hospital redevelopment; alley to be named for long-time community leader
Summary
Supervisors voted unanimously to vacate a portion of James Alley to support construction of the new Chinese Hospital, approved the associated quitclaim and affirmed CEQA findings. The alley segment will transfer to the Chinese Hospital Association as part of the project and will be preserved as open space; Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced renam
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on April 5 unanimously approved a street vacation and related actions to support the Chinese Hospital’s new campus, and the project’s supporters announced plans to rename the alley in honor of Rose Pak, a Chinatown community leader.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin opened the committee hearing describing the new, more than $160 million, eight-story hospital project: roughly 100,000 square feet with expanded emergency services, additional operating rooms, private acute-care rooms, an expanded pharmacy and other clinical capacity. The board held a committee-of-the-whole public hearing on the vacation of a roughly 7.3-acre lease site and a smaller, specific vacation of a 6.25-foot-by-37.5-foot portion of James Alley adjacent to the hospital site. The alley segment carries an appraised value discussed on the floor and will be conveyed to the Chinese Hospital Association under the purchase-and-sale terms.
Supervisor Peskin noted that the city would reserve utility and easement rights in favor of third parties and that the sidewalk/open-space area will remain publicly accessible as a condition of the conveyance and maintenance responsibilities will rest with the hospital. Peskin and others credited hospital leaders and a decades-long fundraising effort for the private capital raised to build the new facility. The board took public comment at the committee hearing, heard no objections and then reconvened on the ordinance step; the measure passed unanimously on first reading.
Supervisor Peskin also introduced (and colleagues supported) a proposal to rename the alley adjacent to the hospital as Rose Pak Way to honor the Chinatown matriarch and community organizer who helped save and rebuild the hospital. Peskin noted the alley contains subterranean water cisterns that the hospital will control under the agreement.
Supporters said the project will expand local hospital capacity and acknowledged the conveyance includes protections for public access and easement rights for utilities.
