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*Tune into FOX 17 Unfiltered tonight at 7 & 11 for the total story!*
“One of the things that we’ve said from day one is, ‘We want to bring people together to live life together.’”
No matter the challenge, Michael Brower said the goal has always remained the same.
“There’s one thing that appeals to everyone,” he said. “They can all collect, make new buddies, hang around with their present buddies and actually simply get pleasure from life.”
An experience for a group, created by a group.
Michael Brower, Joel Kamp and Chad Doane. As Michael likes to call them, the ‘Muskegon Band of Misfits,’ but together, there’s nothing out of place.
“We joke that we’re brothers,” Michael said. “The great thing about brothers is we fight, and we’re better because of each other at the same time.”
Together, they based the favored Pigeon Hill Brewing Company in 2014. Later, they added the Brewer’s Lounge Taproom to their assortment.
“We’re extremely lucky to work together as well as we do,” Michael mentioned. “I mean, most ownership groups are not family.”
The group took a small craft brewery and turned it into a statewide success, exporting Muskegon beer throughout Michigan.
However, the misfits still felt something was…well…missing.
“Almost all of our workforce and all the possession at Pigeon Hill, we dwell downtown, proper within the coronary heart of Muskegon,” Michael said. “We really feel like we have seen lots of development and vibrancy and issues to do, however, on the similar time, there’s nonetheless a scarcity of issues to do.”
They spent many sleepless nights brainstorming and workshopping concepts, at all times coming again to the identical query: “As Muskegon residents, what would we want to have in this area?”
Socibowl is the reply they got here up with.
“To convey this place collectively the place Muskegon has sort of a giant metropolis really feel proper within the coronary heart of our downtown now,” Michael said.
Socibowl is a multi-experience entertainment space with food, drinks, darts and yard games, all centered around the team’s title – bowling.
Socibowl panoramic video view
Not simply any sort of bowling, although. They have six lanes of duckpin bowling, which is a smaller, trendy spin on the basic sport.
At the identical time, it is also a nod to the unique use of that precise house.
“This building was constructed for bowling through the heyday of bowling in America,” Michael mentioned. “It was then bought by Brunswick, which operated as a test facility, so they were actually testing all have their new equipment here.”
After Brunswick left, the Downtown Development Corporation took over. It turned a collection of nightclubs earlier than falling into disrepair, in line with Michael, till the misfits bought it as their Pigeon Hill manufacturing facility in 2015.
“The original Pigeon Hill canned beer came from here,” Michael said. “We knew from the get-go that this wasn’t the highest and best use for a building right in the middle of our downtown corridor. So, we built a new production facility and started asking ourselves, ‘What can we do in this space?’”
To most, the time period ‘misfit’ may need a damaging connotation. Really, it is simply somebody who does not conform. Someone who thinks unconventionally.
That’s what Michael, Joel and Chad have achieved. They hope their story conjures up others to do the identical.
“I think that this is indicative of what is going to be coming in Muskegon,” Michael said. “We’ve taken a big city concept, and we’ve made it right-sized for Muskegon. I see a lot more of that coming.”
He added, “I think that we’re seeing the future of Muskegon in this space.”
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