Candlestick teardown begins — seats being ripped out

Torn-out seats at Candlestick Park Torn-out seats at Candlestick Park Photo: Phillip Matier/The Chronicle / Phillip Matier Photo: Phillip Matier/The Chronicle / Phillip Matier Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Candlestick teardown begins — seats being ripped out 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

It’s the beginning of the end for Candlestick Park — workers using sledgehammers have begun tearing out thousands of seats from the former home of the San Francisco Giants and 49ers.

Even as officials were unveiling plans Monday to turn the stadium site at Candlestick Point into a shopping center, we got a startling glimpse of the old Stick’s fast-fading glory. Workers will spend the next couple of months finishing the job of ripping out 30,000 pairs of orange and red plastic seats as well as removing asbestos.

Some of the seats are being sold as souvenirs for hundreds of dollars apiece, and a few are being installed at Kezar Stadium. The rest will be crushed and disposed of.

A decision about whether to implode the concrete-and-steel Candlestick structure won’t be made until spring, said Kofi Bonner, president of the San Francisco division of Lennar Corp., which is planning the $1 billion development. The alternative would be to take a wrecking ball to the stadium.

Besides a 500,000-square-foot shopping center, the project is expected to feature a hotel, a performance venue and as many as 6,000 homes.