Overview
- The Recreation and Park Department, which set work to start Monday, will begin by removing grout and cataloging each section for at least a week.
- In May, crews plan an exploratory pilot on one or two 10‑ton arms because the built structure does not match its design drawings, then cranes will lift the arms onto flatbeds for removal.
- City and independent assessments found widespread corrosion, asbestos and lead, and seismic failures, and one 10‑ton arm is bearing on another with visible cracks that the designer never intended.
- After the Board of Supervisors approved an emergency exemption in January, a judge denied a preliminary injunction on April 9, and the Friends of the Plaza group is appealing and seeking a stay ahead of an August hearing.
- The dismantled pieces will go to off‑site storage for up to three years while the Arts Commission decides the artwork’s future, with the $4 million project closing only the fenced work zone and keeping the rest of Embarcadero Plaza open.