The Box Office developement - a high-tech office project in the former SouthSide Works Cinema - will host Pins Mechanical Co., a 30,000-square-foot entertainment complex that pairs duckpin bowling, classic pinball and arcade games with cocktails and local beer. However, new owners SomeraRoad have been trying everything to change SouthSide Works’ trajectory with a $137 million redevelopment - and it looks like they’ve rolled a strike. In recent years, though, it’s been mostly gutter balls since most of the original retail tenants (H&M, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Claddagh Irish Pub) have disappeared. The former site of a massive steel mill was transformed into an equally massive mixed-use town center with offices (American Eagle’s headquarters), retail and residential units. The SouthSide Works has seen its share of strikes and gutters. “Strikes and gutters, ups and downs,” observed noted philosopher Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (in the 1998 cult film), crystallizing the vicissitudes of life into an immortal bowling metaphor.
