The LONG awaited opening of Punch Bowl Social is finally here. The restaurant is set to open this Friday (11/18) with much anticipated fanfare. “We are really hoping to get in this opening weekend,” said local resident Adam Owens. “When it was first announced, I couldn’t believe it. A restaurant was the best idea for the tower, but everyone knew it was going to be challenging financially to figure out a way to do it.” Resident Amanda Lewis recalls how often she mentions to her kids that the tower was going through positive changes. “Every time we drove by, I would say, ‘what is that going to be someday kids?’ And they would say, ‘a restaurant.’ And I can’t believe they are finally completing the project.” Admittingly, the project didn’t go as smoothly as expected. “We should have known better,” said Project Manager Matt Marrion. “It was an abandon control tower. I doubt in the history of architecture and engineering, there is another project of this kind. It would have been easier to tear the thing down and start from scratch.”
According to the project leaders, the project ultimately took fifty percent more time than expected. However, The Stapletonions research shows an initial planned opening of spring 2016, showing the project took over twice as long as expected. “Not sure who gave the initial estimates,” said Marrion. “But, I doubt it was me. Unless I had never been in there. I took a bunch of videos and pictures so people could see what this hell hole was like before we got in here. It’s amazing we got it done as quickly as we did.” The Stapletonion projected the project would take at least five years. But, here we are. This giant question mark in the middle of the neighborhood is now going to be a city-wide attraction. And to think, there was once talk of making it a community arts center. Thank you for rescuing us, Punch Bowl Social!