Oakland’s Latham Square reopens, old fountain flows again

Latham Memorial Fountain Latham Memorial Fountain Photo: Rachel Swan Photo: Rachel Swan Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oakland’s Latham Square reopens, old fountain flows again 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Latham Square, the long-dormant plaza at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph Ave. in downtown Oakland, is back open after three years of construction.

Decked with flower beds, trees, a storm water drain system and a century-old fountain that spouts water for the first time in 75 years, the triangular piece of land is four times its original size.

“This is a magical space,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said at a news conference Thursday, where she unveiled the $7 million redevelopment project alongside Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney, Public Works Director Brooke Levin, and area merchant Ari Takata-Vasquez. Sunlight dappled the brick pavement as cars tooled by blasting teeth-chattering hip-hop.

Schaaf went on to tout the project as a public investment that enhances other improvements to the neighborhood, among them the restoration of Latham Square building and the former Roos Brothers department store at 1500 Broadway.

Funded with a $1.4 million state Proposition 1C grant for transportation infrastructure, $3.8 million from Alameda County’s Measure B sales tax, and a mix of other redevelopment project funds, the renovation added new traffic signals at four intersections, to make the area safer for pedestrians. It also allowed Oakland public works officials to fix the infrastructure beneath the street: EBMUD paid to replace a 122-year-old pipe, and city contractors overhauled a brick telecommunications vault that dated back to 1905.

“If this is the heart of the city, then underneath us is the brain of the city,” Levin said.

Designed in 1913, Latham Square was originally a small patch of land bearing the ornate Latham Memorial Fountain, which at that time had drinking fountains alongside water troughs, so that people could drink companionably with their horses.

The new square is part of an ongoing beautification effort to draw more businesses and foot traffic downtown. Uber’s new headquarters will open just blocks away in 2017.

The city will host a re-opening celebration Thursday from 5-8 p.m. with Hatian-American and reggae bands.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan