A new $500,000 investment into the 900 block of Market Street could be the start of a large-scale revamp of the theater district that forms the gateway to the Tenderloin.
The investment, announced on Thursday, will be overseen by the Mid-Market Foundation, the nonprofit wing of the The Mid Market Business Association.
The money comes from the Downtown Development Corporation, a nonprofit founded by allies of Mayor Lurie in 2025, cryptocurrency billionaire and philanthropist Chris Larsen and Proper Hotel Group, which runs the Proper Hotel at 45 McAllister Street.
The money will be used for a 12-month pilot program that will fund public art, “theater-inspired and interactive lighting” and subsidizing theater, performance, arts, culture or education spaces that sign leases to occupy vacant storefronts on the block.
The 2026 City Survey found that residents are spending more time downtown compared to 2023, the first year the question was added to the survey. “Shopping” and “dining and nightlife” were the two most common reasons cited for visits.
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said that until now, the public/private partnerships seeking to revive downtown have largely excluded the Tenderloin.
“There’s so much money being invested in downtown, but not into the Tenderloin; there’s been so much investment in tech, but not into the arts,” Mahmood said. This plan, he added, “shows that, as a city, we are investing in the arts and in all of the city, including the Tenderloin.”
“The goal is to turn Mid-Market into a district that is busy all evening, and not just before and after performances,” the Mid-Market Foundation wrote in a press release.
“A visitor might see a show at the Golden Gate Theatre, hear live music on the sidewalk, have dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, stay at a nearby hotel, pass public art on the way to another venue, and end the night at an independent club or performance space.”
To Mahmood the pilot project is a step towards a big goal: Transforming the Tenderloin’s theater district into something akin to New York City’s Broadway, where there are live shows every single day at every single theater. That kind of entertainment district, Mahmood said, could bring a billion dollars of new revenue into the city.
The first glance at what the theater district could look like will be on full display at the Mid-Market Foundation’s inaugural Market Streets Arts and Theater Festival this Saturday. That will feature more than 50 arts and entertainment experiences along six blocks of Mid-Market, from 4 to 10 p.m.
