This week, San Francisco Rec & Park announced it had secured full funding to rebuild Koret Children's Playground, the playground that was destroyed last June in an overnight arson case which left the nearby historic carousel unscathed.

Rec & Park had tentatively secured a contractor for the rebuild as of last October, but complete funding for the project—initially estimated to come in at $1 million—was slower to come together.

"With a funding commitment from the late Mayor Ed Lee, who also cared deeply about that playground," Rec & Parks spokesperson Connie Chan said, "and generous support from the Parks Alliance and other donors ... we now have sufficient funding to repair the playground."

Chan said that demolition, prep and equipment replacement is expected to kick off next month.

"We ... anticipate we will re-open a fully repaired Koret Playground by the end of March," Chan said. "We expect Koret Playground to be restored to its former glory shortly."