As the photos in last Sunday’s Post-Journal show, work is progressing quite nicely on the Comedy Center.

The experience described by Journey Gunderson, center executive director, and Tom Benson, center chairperson, feels as if it is possible as one sees the center coming together. The interior of the former BPU substation is hardly recognizable even though Comedy Center officials have left much of the brick and steel interior intact. As construction finishes in Jamestown, companies throughout the northeast are working to create the exhibits and activities for the center.

Construction on the buildings should be completed in 2018. Gunderson and Benson hit the nail on the head when they told Post-Journal representatives during a building tour recently that they have only one chance to open the Comedy Center. It is more important to open correctly than it is to open quickly.

We hope the city and downtown organizations make the most of the extra time they have been given. Work is progressing on the Doubletree by Hilton on Fourth Street and on the Jamestown Brewing Company project at Third and Washington streets. There is a lot of excitement for The Forum, located in the former HSBC Bank building at Main and Second streets, and for Arnold Duke’s project in the former Key Bank across the street of Main and Second streets. It’s hard not to notice empty storefronts and under-utilized space downtown, however, and think that there is an awful lot of work to be done before the National Comedy Center opens.

There is roughly 19 months until the Comedy Center opens. Jamestown and its partners need to make them count.