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| Dylan Berry
of Plant Construction, Project Manager – Ferry Building
Construction Project |
Bay Crossings
recently met with developer Chris Meany, boss of the $80-million
plus restoration of the Ferry Building ("The Ferry Building
Guy", Bay Crossings, April 2001). Within minutes, Mr.
Big had fobbed us off on Dylan Berry, Project Manager for the job,
who here gives us an update on how things are going.
We started demolition around
January, mid January of this year. We’re scheduled to complete the
project around September of 2002. When we took over the building, it
was still occupied by a lot of tenants. There was quite a bit to do
in terms of trying to start construction while the building was
still occupied so it was slow going to begin with. The final tenants
moved out about two months ago and deconstruction began in earnest.
We’re in the process now of
doing what we call the hard and soft demolition, soft being the
walls and fixtures and finishes, hard demolition being removing the
actual structure to allow for structural improvement and allow to
open up the building plan itself.
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| What was: the
Ferry Building’s Nave before conversion into office space |
When the building was originally
built, ferry passengers would enter from a lower floor and go up a
set of to what I like to think of as a train station on the water.
You have a big atrium space the whole length of the building.
Sometime in the 50’s they covered it up and we’re going to
restore it. To do it, we’ll be taking out one whole floor out
almost the entire length of the building.
Throughout the rest of the
building, the historic sections are about half intact and we’re
dealing with that, too. The entire north wall will be reconstructed
to match the
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| What is: the Nave
gutted. |
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| What will be:
architect’s rendering of the Nave when renovation is
complete. Photo credit: Image courtesy of SMWM/BCV
Architects/Page & Turnbull; © Jennifer Johnson |
historic detail of the south end
of the building. When the building was originally built, these brick
archways and the cornice material above it were symmetrical. They
were removed at some point, so we’re going to restore that, too.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of
110 people are working on the project now and we’re on track to
open on time in September 2002.
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| When the building
was built, ferry passengers would enter on the second floor
to embark or disembark on the ferries. A historic mosaic
floor, which has been covered and damaged over the years,
will be restored in both areas of the building. |
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| Brick archways and
the cornice material above them are being restored to their
original symmetrical condition. |
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| The
Alameda/Oakland ferries as seen through a gaping hole in the
Ferry Building. |
