BBI Construction recently received the go ahead to begin the Palace of Fine Arts Phase II restoration project. As specialists in historic building restoration and environmentally-conscientious building practices, the firm will take on restoring the Palace's interior rotunda dome, upgrading the structure for seismic safety, repairing surface damage, and patching and cleaning the architectural elements, including the famous "weeping maidens" as standard practice. Nothing about this project however, is standard. The restoration will honor notorious architect, Bernard Maybeck's, vision and work, it will bring seismic safety to a structure originally built to last one year, and will be undertaken in a dense, residential district while the nearby Exploratorium remains open, and flocks of birds nest in the adjacent lagoon. BBI Construction President Brad Gates says this is exactly the sort of job they are thrilled to have. "It's the Palace of Fine Arts! It's an international landmark and we are excited to be involved in such a high-profile project. We have 35 years of experience specializing in this kind of work."

The Maybeck Foundation is responsible for raising the bulk of the $21 million dollar restoration project budget. Maybeck designed the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. It was framed in wood and covered in staff, a mixture of plaster and a burlap-type fiber, and was intended to be demolished after one year. However, when it came time to take it down, a group of San Franciscans led by Phoebe Hearst, "The Exposition Preservation League," succeeded in saving the Palace from destruction. The wood footings were repaired in the 1930s and the wood pile caps were replaced with concrete-grade beams. Then in the 1960s the entire facility was reconstructed with reinforced concrete replacing the original wood and staff. During the 1989 earthquake large chunks of the rotunda dome ceiling broke off and it was clear the structure required seismic upgrade. A net was installed to contain loose plaster ceiling pieces and protect pedestrians, and then, in 2003, The Maybeck Foundation joined with the City to raise money to restore and preserve the Palace. Phase I work began in 2004, which included the reconstruction of the Palace's deteriorating dome roof, and a $4.5 million restoration of the lagoon to improve water quality and reconstruct the failing edge.

When Phase II was ready to go out for bid, Lena Chen, Project Manager for the City of San Francisco, wanted to enlarge the pool of potential contractors. City bylaws allowed for an RFQ process to pre-qualify contractors for the bidding process. Out of the almost 20 firms that responded, 3 firms, including BBI Construction, received prequalification status. "I live in the East Bay," Ms. Chen says, "and when I learned of BBI Construction I started looking at their other projects, including the City of Oakland's Lake Merritt Boathouse, and the Veteran's Memorial Building in Pleasanton. Their work and references speak very well of them."

Now, as BBI Construction pins and anchors each piece of the Palace to bring it up to current seismic standards, cleans and repairs areas eroded by the elements and graffiti, subcontractors like Deborah Blake of Sullivan Thompson Masonry & Restoration will, for example, carefully restore and replace the weeping maidens' toes. BBI Construction will also take care with the lagoon. Maybeck recognized the adjacent lagoon as the last remnant of a significant tidal basin and advocated its preservation by incorporating it into the Palace of Fine Arts design. People have been enjoying his vision ever since as the site of countless weddings and celebrations, as have birds, who have made the lagoon one of their principal nesting sites. It turns out the lagoon is one of the most significant bodies of fresh water along the flyway of numerous migrating birds. Weddings have been put on hiatus during the restoration work, but the birds will keep on nesting as BBI Construction takes careful measures to protect their nesting site while the restoration is underway.

Work began in December 2007 and will take approximately 21 months to complete.