Plans for a hotel or restaurant at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts have met with opposition, sparking an online "Preserve the Palace" petition. The petition, started six days ago and demanding the site be developed as a cultural/educational center, had already gathered nearly 17,000 signatures by last night.
The 100-year-old site, built for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, was rebuilt in 1965. The Exploratorium was housed in the former exhibit hall from 1969 to 2013. The site became available with the museum's move to its new building at Pier 15.
There are three proposals in play as the city looks for a tenant that will assume the site's operating costs, and bringing the building up to code would require about $20M. Two of the proposals would put a hotel at the site. The third would create a high-end restaurant with a museum. [SFBT, KPIX]
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