For many San Franciscans, the completion this month of a $90-million renovation of the 105-year-old Ferry Building―including its 240 ft (73 m) tall clock tower―marks the beginning of a new era for the city's waterfront. The 660 ft (200 m) long, 152 ft (46 m) wide structure―once the thriving center of a city dependent on cross-bay transportation―is to anchor a marketplace in a neighborhood that has been neglected by developers for decades. Alan Kren, the structural engineer for San Francisco╚Dbased Rutherford & Chekene charged with the structural aspects of the renovation, views the accomplishment a bit more pragmatically. "It was like your worst house remodeling times a hundred," he says.
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