MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - On schedule and no major problems; the Pyramid looks more and more like a Bass Pro Superstore every day. The shops aren't supposed to open until October 2013, but the Pyramid is rapidly changing.
You wouldn't recognize the place. Ramps and stairways have been torn down. Walls are being punched open. Things are moving quickly.
18,000 fans watched concerts and basketball there. Now about 75 workers are trying to make the Pyramid a tough son of a gun when it comes to earthquakes.
Welders will work on every major beam in the building. The floor will be torn up because they're going to put a in cypress swamp, complete with cypress trees, which means they'll need room below and above.
"The catwalk has been completely removed from the building to make room for the cypress trees and additional structures Bass Pro will put where the Memphis Tigers once played," explained architect Alan Barner. "The retail will be on the perimeter of the ground floor and the mezzanine level. Retail will wrap the perimeter with the cypress swamp in the middle and a four story hotel on the top level."
For an architect, this is a big job. Reputations can be made or ruined on something like this. Alan Barner is confident that when it opens, this Bass Pro will be a place to remember.
"Oh, this is going to be a wow factor project for people who want to visit from all around the country."
The first two construction phases are underway. Everybody hopes to open by the fall of next year. The hotel will open by hopefully spring of 2014.
On the top observation areas which have never been used, they plan a restaurant and bar called The Buzzard's Nest.
