Lennar Urban, the developer behind the new mixed-use megaproject at Candlestick Point, announced that crews will demolish Candlestick Park with conventional excavators and not an implosion. The developers had been planning a conventional demolition—which will take about two months, compared with an implosion's 20 seconds—but in the run-up to the already sort of pillaged-looking ballpark's demise, the company asked the city to study the possibility of an implosion. As Matier & Ross note in the Chronicle, Lennar Urban had entertained the idea of turning the implosion into a Super Bowl halftime show that would have been broadcast live across the country in what might have been the largest simultaneous viewing of ruin porn ever.
But fears of a toxic plume of silica dust and other carcinogens floating above the Bayview and Hunters Point made the prospect of a theatrical implosion controversial, drawing criticism from the Bayview Hill Neighborhood Association and Golden Gate University's Environmental Law and Justice Clinic.
This week the Department of Building Inspection issued a permit to Lennar to use "high-reach excavators" to bring down the stadium section by section, and in a statement released today, Lennar said it intends to withdraw the request to implode. "With this permit in hand, it is in the best interests of the project and the city at large to get moving and bring down Candlestick Park," Lennar president Kofi Bonner said.
The demolition is set to begin before the end of the month, and is slated to wind up by March.
· Mega Development and Housing Approved for Candlestick Site [Curbed SF]
· Drone Photos Reveal a Ghostly Candlestick, Torn Up and Awaiting Demolition [Curbed SF]
· Candlestick Park Will Go Out with a Wrecking Ball, Not a Bang [SFGate]
· Candlestick's Possible Implosion Raises Dust Plume Health Fears in Bayview [SF Examiner]
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