A new water tower mosaic sculpture, rising high above the Coakley Brothers Co. building, could serve as a beacon to the redeveloping Walker’s Point neighborhood.
That’s the plan envisioned by Peggy Coakley, the CEO and fourth-generation member of the family that runs the 129-year-old company that specializes in moving, storage and business interiors.
She commissioned Brooklyn, N.Y., artist Tom Fruin to create a 20-foot-tall piece of art in the shape of the old water tower tank that sat on top of the company’s building at 400 S. 2nd St.
Constructed from thousands of multicolored pieces of plexiglass, the structure will be illuminated by sunlight during the day and by interior lights at night. It will be visible from downtown and the south and west sides of the city, including the Hoan and High Rise bridges.
“It’s really like a kaleidoscope,” she said. “It’s joyful.”
Coakley said she first stumbled on Fruin’s work when she saw his 2012 water tower sculpture in Brooklyn Bridge Park last November.
