COLUMBIA, SC — “Busted Plug Plaza,” the four-story sculpture that has stood — well, leaned — for more than a decade in a parking lot owned by AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, is getting a new home.

That is, when the new locale is determined.

AgFirst is donating the fire hydrant, designed by artist Blue Sky at an angle to suggest a car had slammed into it, to the city of Columbia. The company, which provides services and loans to other financiers who loan directly to farmers, will also donate $25,000 to relocate the 40-foot piece of art currently on Taylor Street.

The deal with the city for the sculpture comes as AgFirst prepares to move into its new headquarters on Main Street. Putting “Busted Plug” at the new site — the former Bank of America building — isn’t feasible, Ann-Lamar Tuten, an AgFirst spokeswoman said.

“It couldn’t go with us,” she said. “We’re donating the ‘Busted Plug’ to the city so that it can be relocated to a more visible location with more room.”

Mired in the relocation talk is another piece of art by Blue Sky, one that can’t be moved easily. What happens to “Tunnelvision,” the 50-by-75-foot mural on the AgFirst building?

“We don’t have an answer for that at this time,” said Tuten, who declined to say what will happen to the current facility where AgFirst has operated since 1925.

Councilman Moe Baddourah said he began the “Busted Plug” negotiations with AgFirst in July.

“I’ve always thought the fire hydrant was part of the city’s arts even though it’s on private property,” he said. “It’s not getting enough viewing. We thought we could put it in another location where it can get more visitors.”

The fire hydrant is made from aluminum and weighs more than 9,800 pounds. The entire “Busted Plug” structure weighs more than 700,000 pounds. The connected plumbing allows it to have water leaking from its side and shooting up from its base.

The city has yet to settle on a new home for the piece, and Baddourah said he was open to suggestions.

“I don’t mind getting a little more feedback from residents about where they would like to put the hydrant,” he said.

One place that has been discussed is the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, already the location of a First Responders’ Remembrance Memorial that features steel beams from the World Trade Center. Another location is Finlay Park. Once a new site is determined, “Busted Plug” will be relocated there, Baddourah said.

“We’re not going to take it down and put it in storage,” he said.

Blue Sky’s wife, Lynn, who ran Blue Sky Gallery in Five Points for 22 years before it closed last year, said the artist doesn’t want “Busted Plug” to become scrap metal.

“Blue’s biggest concern is that they can’t find a proper place for it and it will be in storage and it will get trashed,” she said. “That’s the most important part. He just so worried that they’ll say, ‘Oh, we’ll find a place for it later.”

The future of “Tunnelvision,” the 37-year-old mural that presents the illusion of looking through a tunnel carved from rock at a descending sun in the distance, could remain uncertain long after AgFirst decides what to do with the property it currently occupies. Baddourah said he has already lobbied on the mural’s behalf.

“We professionally requested that ‘Tunnelvision’ would stay where it is,” he said.

WHERE SHOULD ‘BUSTED PLUG’ BE RELOCATED? Share your thoughts in the comments section below

View Blue Sky's "Busted plug" sculpture in a larger map

Reach Taylor at (803) 771-8362.