A newly remodeled plaza has opened outside of the San Francisco Federal Building that features new native gardens and gathering spaces as well as perimeter fencing for security reasons.

The U.S. General Services Administration oversaw the remodeling of the plaza outside of the 18-story building at 90 Seventh St. in the city’s South of Market neighborhood.

The federal agency last month formalized a partnership with Demonstration Gardens, a San Francisco environmental advocacy organization that will help manage the gardens in the plaza and lead activities at the plaza starting next month.

“Already we are seeing tremendous excitement from plaza neighbors about all the art, citizen science and community-based education we can create together,” Kasey Rios Asberry, executive director of Demonstration Gardens, said in a statement.

Around the new plaza, new perimeter fencing has been installed along the sidewalks of Seventh and Mission streets to secure the space after business hours, according to federal officials.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.