Connecticut spent 25 years at the stadium. It was removed because it no longer fit with the new team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

Odell Associates, an architecture firm that had owned a stake in the Tobacco Row building, bought the statue and installed it in November 2010. Hundreds gathered for its unveiling. The firm recently sold its stake in the building, and along with it, Connecticut, Macfarlane said.

The sculpture is made of fiberglass, which the sun is very tough on, DiPasquale said. Performing annual maintenance on it is difficult in its current spot, he said.

Last Friday, DiPasquale and three others dismantled the work in order to restore it in a safer place. A crane will lift its six pieces, weighing a combined 2,000 pounds, from the rooftop, DiPasquale said.

DiPasquale is known for other prominent works, including the Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue and a depiction of Neptune that stands on the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

The Connecticut sculpture was a “labor of love,” DiPasquale said. The work was intended to honor American Indians, but has received mixed reviews from representatives of Virginia’s Indian community through the years, he said.