Salesforce Park is a lush landscape that stretches four city blocks atop a transit center in San Francisco. With lawns, hillocks, lavender beds, leafy trees and a walking path, it gives commuters a relaxing place to wait for their bus and attracts people who live and work nearby looking for respite in the middle of a busy city.

Despite its presence as a calming oasis, Salesforce Park faced stressful start-up challenges.

The transit center abruptly shut down shortly after opening in August last year when cracks were discovered in two steel beams. Officials hoped for a quick turnaround, but the project became mired in delays. After 10 months of inspection, analysis and repair, it finally reopened in July.

Building a park 70 feet in the air atop a transit center showed how complex it can be to piggyback green space on active infrastructure. Such projects require coordination among many consultants and, often, multiple levels of government, with possible construction delays, cost overruns and pushback from residents.

These projects are “complicated from a design point of view and a maintenance point of view,” said Adrian Benepe , senior vice president and director of national programs for the Trust for Public Land and a former New York City parks commissioner.