Indy’s landmark Pyramids are undergoing a facelift

Acquiring a half-century-old office park just inside the Interstate 465 loop on the north side may not sound like a sure bet. Especially during these post-COVID days, when enticing office workers out of their bedroom offices and back to their cubicles remains a work in progress.

But Brent Benge, president and CEO of Speedway-based real estate investment firm KennMar, said he thinks the trio of structures his company purchased a little more than a year ago is a solid acquisition and that the value is increasing as the company spends millions of dollars to modernize and spruce up the complex.

“Considering the state of the commercial real estate market, we didn’t want to catch a falling knife,” Benge said. “We did our due diligence, and we felt really, really good about it. And I think we’re seeing it in our leasing demand and our current occupancy.”

It helps that the park in question isn’t just any suburban office development but arguably one of the city’s best-known landmarks.

Called The Pyramids, the 40-acre parcel (which includes a 25-acre lake) consists of three 11-story office buildings shaped like pyramids with a total of 361,000 feet of office space. The property was designed by architect Kevin Roche of Connecticut-based Roche-Dinkeloo & Associates and completed in 1972.

Roche, who died in 2019, compiled a lifetime resume that included such high-profile projects as the Ford Foundation Building and the master plan for the renovation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, both in New York City, plus 38 corporate headquarters (including Cummins’ in Columbus).

The Pyramids were built to serve as headquarters of the College Life Insurance Co. At the time, the rapidly growing insurer figured it needed a ton of space—though not all of it right away. According to Linda Scinto, Roche’s former executive assistant and now archivist of his papers, the architect came up with a novel solution.

“He said to them, ‘You can’t build a tall building in stages. You need to build it all at once,’” Scinto said. “Since the idea of a low, sprawling building with wings added here and there didn’t appeal to them, he came up with the concept of having nine buildings. Because you could build them one, or three, at a time.”

Which is exactly what happened. For about $12 million, the first three buildings of what was envisioned to be a nine-unit complex were completed in 1972. Roche got the idea for their unique shape while out driving one day, when he noticed a pyramid-shaped piece of broken concrete on the street.

“He thought that would be an interesting form to repeat,” Scinto said.

The three 11-story pyramids each sport thick concrete walls facing I-465 that conceal stairs, elevators and the building’s mechanical systems, while the other two walls, overlooking the lake, are basically curtains of one-way glass. The buildings’ wide-open interior spaces were so novel at the time that Roche had to design a bespoke cubicle system for them.

The plan for nine pyramids never came to fruition because the College Life Insurance Co. soon fell on hard times and was acquired by an out-of-town firm. After that, the Pyramids passed through the hands of several owners, the latest of which is KennMar. Yet they remain by far the most memorable piece of architecture visible from the I-465 loop—so visible that they briefly figured in the opening credits of the 1970s Indy-based sitcom “One Day at a Time.”

Nearly $12M in renovations

KennMar is investing somewhere just south of $12 million to remodel and refurbish the structures. Benge declined to give a precise price tag for the project but acknowledged it is a little shy of the original construction cost more than 50 years ago.

KennMar declined in April 2022 to disclose what it paid for The Pyramids, but Marion County property records show the price was $17 million.

Tenants include midsize companies such as Allegra Printing, Medical Decision Modeling and Indiana Tech. Office space leases for $18 to $20 per square foot. The complex’s occupancy rate was 71% as of last August, according to Chicago-based leasing agent JLL.

Benge admitted that picking worthwhile office properties is tricky during the post-pandemic era. But The Pyramids, he said, seemed to have some advantages that would help it do well in the new world order.

“It’s highly recognizable, with easy access off the interstate,” Benge said. “It checks all the boxes in terms of what many employers are looking for. There’s close proximity to a lot of [residential] rooftops.”

He said focusing only on lease rates is “a race to the bottom, and you tend not to offer the experiences that a business wants, including a fitness center, lounge, good property management.”

The Pyramids do, in fact, offer a lounge and fitness center, along with all-weather connections between them via tunnels and skywalks. The lakefront view isn’t too shabby, and the complex sits just across the highway from Carmel and Zionsville.

That ease of commute was noted during the project’s earliest days and figured in Roche’s ideas for the complex. Early sketches even included notional residential housing surrounding the buildings.

“The idea of having a home that was closely connected with work was very appealing to the architect and to the client and were designed to go hand in hand,” said Desma Belsaas, president of AIA Indianapolis. “It was very much an area designed for life, work and play, to create a dynamic environment for the College Life Insurance employees.”

Benge said that potential still exists. The Pyramids remain close to a lot of potential employees, so their commutes would be measured in minutes.

A new vision

Bringing The Pyramids into the 21st century was the responsibility of Indianapolis-based DKGR Architects.

“We were asked to re-envision the Pyramids, to see what we could do with the interiors and exteriors,” said Jerome Daksiewicz, director of design at DKGR.

Upgrades include:

◗ Stripping out much of the interior décor from the last redesign, which featured an ersatz Egyptian theme complete with giant lobby pictures of pharaohs and pyramids.

◗ Removing drop ceilings to display concrete work.

◗ Completely remodeling the buildings’ fitness center, tenant lounge, conference center, elevator lobbies and other public areas.

◗ Adding a walking path and trees and improving other landscaping—particularly the grassy berm overlooking the lake.

Unfortunately for architecture fans, pretty much every bit of the Roche-designed interior appointments, including the cubicle system, had been tossed out over several decades of remodeling efforts.

Still, Daksiewicz said, “We’re trying to take it back a little to Roche’s original design intent, which was a little more modern.”

As for the exterior, much time was devoted to restoring the concrete on the Pyramids’ two I-465-facing sides. Those walls are also being recoated in a slightly lighter shade.

“It’s just a little bit brighter,” Daksiewicz said. “A little less of that just kind of brown, tan color, so that it feels a little more modern.”

KennMar is also focused on filling the remaining office space.

“Our total vacancy rate for all three pyramids doesn’t equal even one pyramid,” Benge said. “We’ve seen some pretty good demand and also been able to maintain our existing tenant base in all three.”

In the future, KennMar wants to look at further improving the Pyramids’ outdoor amenities and perhaps adding developments to the parcel. There’s certainly plenty of room, given that the original plan envisioned nine pyramids.

“We have some ideas in mind, but we’re just not ready to announce it yet,” Benge said. “We’re still kind of evaluating that.”

One idea KennMar likely won’t ever consider is completing Roche’s master plan for nine identical buildings. Logistically and financially, that ship has sailed.

“It would be cool, but it wouldn’t work,” Benge said. “That’s a lot of space, and it would cost a lot to construct. I don’t see it happening.”•