The crews that spent the last two years replacing the pipes under Geary Boulevard have left. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's Geary sewer and water project reports the work as 100% complete as of October 9, 2026, with the contractor demobilized and all equipment removed. SFMTA's bus and safety project is next, and the agency says it is preparing to start construction this fall. In the meantime, the city put out a list of small businesses giving away a limited-edition Geary tote bag starting November 9. Between Stanyan and 20th Avenue, that list names 50 merchants, sorted block by block. Read in order, it shows three stretches with very different characters, and the bus and safety work coming next targets the third one most directly.

The pipes under the street were older than most of the buildings on it

SFPUC describes most of the infrastructure it replaced as more than 120 years old. Those pipes date to the late 1800s, when the Richmond District was first built out. The project covered Geary from 32nd Avenue to Stanyan Street in two segments, with 12th Avenue as the dividing line, and replaced or rehabilitated about 1.4 miles of sewer mains and 6.7 miles of water mains.

In late 2025, with Segment A's underground work nearly done and Segment B underway, SFPUC said in a sponsored update in the Richmond Review that its Small Business Working Group was meeting with merchants. In the same update, SFPUC said it had worked with SFGovTV to film more than 45 local businesses for a promotional campaign. That footage became the Shop Dine SF Geary page run by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development: a set of short videos, each featuring five businesses with their cross streets, followed by the tote bag list. The page gives no redemption terms. It tells shoppers to stop by a participating merchant and ask how to get a bag.

Three stretches, three different streets

The tote list groups merchants by segment, and the segments look nothing alike.

Near Stanyan, the list is mostly places to sit down and eat. Of its 11 names, Pancho's, Star India, Toyama, Khob Khun Thai, Burmese Kitchen, Ireland's 32, Green Island, Sabrosa Pizza and Brothers Restaurant all serve food or drink.

From 6th Avenue to Funston, the list turns into errands. It names a frame shop, a medical supply store, a battery and tire shop, a dry cleaner, two personal care salons, a toy shop and a preschool, along with First Korean Market, Modera Liquor & Wine and Bento Peak.

The 14th-to-20th stretch has at least twice as many participants as either of the other two, and it mixes both kinds of business. Within about seven blocks, the list puts Hong Kong Lounge, Jin Pot, Volcano Curry, Dragon River Restaurant and ML Donuts next to Hear SF, Golden State Tennis, Geary Shoe Repair, Union Post SF, Dick's International Barbershop and an optometrist, Thomas Chong, O.D., around the corner at 414 20th Avenue. Several of the same names appear in the city's videos with cross streets attached. Joe's Ice Cream and Superpan are listed at 18th Avenue, Gordo Taqueria and Moscow & Tbilisi Bakery at 19th, and Mainland Market Co. and Martells Liquor and Grocery at 20th.

Geary on the tote list is more than a dining strip. The densest part of the list is where restaurants and everyday services sit next to each other.

Some addresses changed hands while the street was open

Several businesses closed or opened while the pipe work was underway.

My Tofu House at 4627 Geary, between 10th and 11th avenues, served its last meal on August 3, 2026, after nearly 25 years, the Richmond Review reported. One street number away, First Korean Market at 4625 Geary is on the tote list.

Farther west, chocolatier Topogato at 5203 Geary closed in September, as the San Francisco Standard reported and Mission Local noted in its Richmond roundup. That same roundup covered an arrival. HI NRG, a coffee pop-up turned brick-and-mortar shop, opened quietly at 5801 Geary on September 16. Owners Luis Gonzalez and Nathan Kruse fitted out the space with velvet curtains, a disco ball and under-seat bins for jackets, and set an official grand opening for September 23.

A year earlier the same kind of handoff happened at 22nd Avenue. The Richmond Review reported that Rice & Shine opened in late September 2025 in the space where Khan Toke's owner had closed the longtime restaurant that August. Rice & Shine now appears in the city's Geary videos at 22nd Avenue.

The next crews are building for the stretch that walks

SFMTA's Geary Boulevard Improvement Project covers Stanyan Street to 34th Avenue. It carries a $48 million cost estimate and a predicted completion in early 2028. The project page lists its current phase as construction, and the agency says it is preparing to start construction this fall and will post regular construction updates later in the season.

The project follows a 2023 Quick-Build that used paint and posts to test the design. In an evaluation published in July 2025, SFMTA reported that bus travel times on the corridor fell 6% to 11% and that traffic collisions in the project area dropped by one-third. The same evaluation found that Geary sales tax receipts did better than the citywide average over the period, though both declined slightly, and that drivers reported visiting Geary as often as before.

According to SFMTA's progress post, the construction phase makes those changes permanent, and most of them are for people on foot:

1. 23 pedestrian bulb-outs, which extend the sidewalk into the crosswalk to shorten crossings and slow turning cars.
2. 23 median refuges, protected concrete waiting areas in the middle of the street.
3. Traffic signal upgrades, including larger lenses and signal arms that hang over the roadway.
4. Curb-to-curb repaving, among the final touches scheduled as construction winds down by late 2027.

Those changes matter most on a block where a resident might drop off dry cleaning, get shoes repaired and pick up dinner within a few doors of each other.

What the boulevard will look like at three Rapid stops

The visible part of the project is being designed locally. SFMTA says almost 1,600 respondents commented on the tree species and sidewalk themes. Decorative glass-aggregate concrete will go into the boarding zones at six Rapid stops: Park Presidio, 20th Avenue and 25th Avenue, inbound and outbound. Honors art students at George Washington High School are creating the designs. Outbound stops will get ocean themes, and inbound stops will get greenery and park themes.

About 50 new trees are planned for the corridor, according to SFMTA's community enhancement page:

• Median: Coast Live Oak and Monterey Cypress
• Sidewalk: California Buckeye, California Bay Laurel and Primrose Tree

SFMTA says the tree locations were chosen with input from adjacent residents, businesses and property owners and placed to keep storefront signs visible. It also plans more outreach to confirm each location and species a few months before planting.

The 20th Avenue stops are where the longest run of participating merchants on the tote list ends, with Gaspare's at 5546 Geary and an optometrist at 414 20th Avenue among the last names on that segment.

The Brendon Kearney team tracks Geary block by block: which storefronts change hands, which stay put, and how the work coming through 2027 affects each stretch. If you own near the boulevard and want to talk about how the next construction phase lines up with your plans, schedule a private consultation.