Public Hall SFContact

Every San Franciscan deserves a place to celebrate.

Public Hall turns an empty downtown building into a beautiful event space that's free for San Franciscans to book, for weddings and quinceañeras, memorials and neighborhood meetings. Companies pay market rates. Neighbors pay nothing.

Get involved See how it works

A hall in the round.

You walk in from the plaza and everyone shares one room, with no head table and no bad seat. Glass walls fold open in good weather, studios sit upstairs, and the roof is a garden.

Concept sketch of Public Hall SF: a round, two-story hall on a plaza with glass walls that fold open, a timber screen above, a rooftop garden ring, and an oculus over the central Great Hall. A ground floor plan shows the Great Hall at the center with the kitchen, back of house and restrooms around the back.

Gathering in this city has a price tag.

For most families, it's too high. City-owned rooms help, but they're scarce and booked around city programs. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of downtown's office space sits empty.

The moments that hold a community together, a wedding, a first birthday, a farewell, shouldn't depend on what's in your bank account.

Tonight in San Francisco

Small venue rental
$250 to $800 / hr
Evening event at City Hall
$10,000+
Average California wedding
$36,000+
City clubhouse booking window
30 to 90 days
At Public Hall, for San Franciscans
$0

Figures from Tagvenue, SF.gov, Joy/Zola and SF Recreation and Parks. Sources listed below.

Companies pay, so neighbors don't.

Downtown still has plenty of businesses that pay well for good event space. Public Hall puts that money to work for everyone else.

  1. Companies book at market rates

    Offsites, galas and launches pay what they would anywhere downtown, for a venue with a purpose they can be proud of.

  2. That revenue runs the building

    Paid events, catering and sponsors cover most of the operating costs. An endowment and annual giving cover the rest.

  3. Neighbors book for free

    Residents, small businesses and community groups book the same rooms, with the same care, at no cost.

Share of prime bookings

One building, opened up.

A vacant downtown office building of about 40,000 square feet, rebuilt for gathering and fully accessible from the sidewalk to the roof.

Plus ten neighborhood rooms

School halls, community centers and faith spaces across the city, upgraded and opened after hours through the same booking system, so there's a free room within reach of every district.

Garden RoomRooftop, up to 120
Studios A and BUpstairs, up to 40 each
Great HallIn the round, opens to the plaza, up to 300

Fair by design.

Free space can't just go to whoever clicks fastest. These rules are set with a community advisory council, and every year we publish who used Public Hall.

  • A monthly lottery for popular weekend dates
  • Priority for lower-income households and first-time hosts
  • Book online, by phone or in person, in English, Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog
  • Limits so no single group fills the calendar
  • Paid apprenticeships for local community college students in hospitality, catering and event production

Built to belong to the city for good.

Owned by a nonprofit

Public Hall SF Foundation will own the building outright, with a board where community members hold the majority. It can't be sold off or priced up.

Paid for by design

Corporate revenue and an endowment are projected to cover about 85% of operating costs at full operation. Annual giving covers the rest.

Good for downtown

Families, evenings and weekends: the people and hours downtown has been missing, bringing business to the restaurants and shops around it.

By its fifth year, Public Hall and its neighborhood rooms will host about 2,850 free gatherings, welcoming around 145,000 people a year.

Help us build it.

We're looking for community partners, future hosts, corporate sponsors and neighbors who want a say in how Public Hall works.

Email us to get involved

Public Hall SF is a proposal from Collaborative Brain Trust, a San Francisco firm that has helped nonprofits and colleges build programs that last since 2008.