Mar 10 2015
More than 20 years after the last plane landed at Stapleton Airport, master developer Forest City and Denver-based Seasoned Development announced plans to restore the highly visible air traffic control tower complex. The iconic building will be home to Denver’s second Punch Bowl Social as well as the company’s corporate headquarters.
Rendering of Punch Bowl Social at Stapleton (Graphic: Business Wire)
“This community has been looking for a way to activate the tower space for a long time,” said Denver City Council President Chris Herndon, who represents Stapleton. “Punch Bowl Social offers a family-friendly environment for dining and entertainment, and a great neighborhood option for date night for parents. It’s exciting to have a homegrown company invest in our community and add to the vibrancy and character of Northeast Denver.”
Robert Thompson, the founder of Punch Bowl Social, joined Herndon to express his excitement about opening his popular concept in the tower. “The control tower is a landmark in this community and in the city of Denver," he said. "As a company, we are intentional about seeking out locations that have historic roots but need a new purpose. There's a lot of interest in seeing the tower preserved and we intend to retain the character that’s so familiar and appealing to locals and visitors alike."
“We have been searching for an adaptive reuse opportunity for quite some time, and know Stapleton residents as well as the larger community will find this to be an exciting and invigorating use of the tower,” says John S. Lehigh, President and COO of Forest City Stapleton, Inc.
While the building is structurally sound, the interior has degraded substantially since 1995. Plans for the new location of Punch Bowl Social will include the removal of much of the interior structure while preserving the familiar architecture of the exterior. Punch Bowl Social will move their corporate headquarters to Stapleton when the project is complete and occupy the 3rd-floor of office space above the new location. The lower two-levels will be expanded by approximately 5,000 sf in a manner consistent with the historic architecture. Local architect, Becky Stone of OZ Architecture, will design the exterior and interior.
“It's unclear how long construction and renovation will take but our early estimates project an opening in the first half of 2016,” Thompson said.
Located at the intersection of Central Park Blvd. and Martin Luther King Blvd., the control tower is at the heart of the Stapleton community, which was built on the site of the city's former airport, and includes 19,000 residents, spread over about 2,300 acres, including 700 acres of parks and open space.