Coming to a point. Very point. Now, as NBC Bay Area's Joe Rosato Jr. Shows us the building is undergoing. Improvements aimed at keeping it going for another 50 years. You can see it from just about any vantage point in San Francisco, rising from the skyline, peeking out above the buildings. A canvas for art. A character in art, the Transamerica Pyramid. Like an exclamation mark on the Financial District. When somebody says, well, where do you work? I say, I'm in the shadow of the pyramid and people immediately know where I am. At 853ft, that shadow falls long. It's a focal point when we look up. But over the years, the city's second tallest building has become somewhat of a shadow of itself. Its grand lobby was split in half. Its unique redwood grove closed during the pandemic, not exactly welcoming something which was closed and hunkered down. But this 52 year old office building is getting some new life. We've created a more tranquil relationship with the Plaza. Architect Ben Dobbin, of Foster and Partners, is helping reimagine its future through a sweeping rehab aimed at modernizing the iconic building. The first move was Take as Much as Possible, which had already been incrementally put into place over time, and strip all of all of that away, down to the bones. The bones of original architect William Pereira's design were all intact, providing the inspiration. We spent months to match the same concrete look, feel and texture and materials as was used in the original facade. Work crews restored the public lobby, adding big picture windows and places to gather. We create a seamless experience between the inside and the outside, and 26 floors up will become fitted out and is in the process of becoming an amazing state of the art gym space for the building's tenants. Just imagine running on a treadmill to this view. You have views all the way across North Beach, the Marina, the cruise terminal, and one floor up from there. And what was long ago. A public observation floor will now be a view lounge for building tenants. It'll be like a coffee bar in this corner here. While those areas are not open to the general public, the building's spruced up public Redwood Park will reopen this summer. When the building was unveiled back in 1972, the trees were only about 18ft tall, and now they're about 150ft tall. It's funny to think how iconic this building has become when you consider there were protests when it was first proposed. Protests included chants of corporate egotism and Stow the shaft with demonstrators in costumes. I mean, someone had to do quite a faithful representation of the tower just to walk around with it. Secretly. They must have loved it. In addition to fixing up the old stuff, there are new additions in the pipeline a newly planted cherry trees now fill Mark Twain Alley and the city has approved construction of two new adjoining office buildings that will transform this entire block. The Redwood Park becomes the center between all three buildings, certainly bringing in a lot of interesting businesses that are going to be bringing more people into the neighborhood. In a city that appreciates an unusual character, the pyramid stands out and up. 52 years in, it's ready for its next chapter. We're actually looking at what, the 50 years and beyond Joe
