One of Google's two mystery barges is being dismantled and sold for scrap

One of Google's two mystery barges is being dismantled and sold for scrap ,

Google's other barge when it was in San Francisco earlier this year.

So much for Google's barge project, it seems. One of the only two multi-level barges owned by Google has been sold by the company, and the rest is headed off to a scrapyard, reports The Portland Press Herald. Earlier this week, Google quietly sold off the barge that was holding up the mysterious four story structure. The floating vessel had been harbored in Maine since last October, with Google planning to eventually use it as "an interactive space where people can learn about new technology." A counterpart on the West Coast was originally docked in San Francisco bay, though was moved inland back in February.

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Still mysterious

Google confirmed to The Verge that it sold the barge off, but would not say if the same was being done to the other one. The Herald says Google's paid for the California barge to be docked there through October, but that it's sat "untouched" for the past six months since being moved. Neither endeavor is cheap, even while simply docked, with the Portland barge bringing the city a reported $400,000 in property taxes over the past 10 months.

The project made waves after the first barge, moored off San Francisco's Treasure Island, was linked to the tech giant last October. Days later, the second barge on the East Coast was connected with the project. Google kept mum on its plans, short of saying that its original idea was to use it as a showroom of sorts for new projects. Both efforts made use of stacked shipping containers that were connected with one another to create a massive, floating structure. Google might have simply rethought that idea in favor of retail stores, which it's been rumored to have been working on since early last year. A report back in March said the company was already eyeing real estate in New York's SoHo neighborhood for just such a project.