It is just over five years since the diggers moved in and construction work started in earnest on Paradise - one of the biggest city centre regenerations Birmingham has ever seen.
Over the years, it has been far from "paradise" for many people with countless traffic jams, re-routed roads (and pavements) and the collapse of contractor Carillion throwing a huge shadow over completion of the first building on the scheme.
Now touted as a £700 million project - the original budget was £500 million - the fruits of the project team's labour are finally being seen.
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PwC has taken up residence in that aforementioned first building, One Chamberlain Square, while law firm DLA Piper is waiting in the wings to occupy two floors of its next door neighbour Two Chamberlain Square.
So what reflections does the man leading the scheme have as it passes the half-decade mark of building work?
BusinessLive caught up with Rob Groves, regional director with development manager Argent, to hear his assessment of the scheme so far.
He started by reflecting on that week in January 2018 when Wolverhampton-based contractor Carillion suffered a catastrophic collapse, leaving in its wake a trail of unpaid bills and half-finished projects across the country.
"Paradise is an immensely complex project full of challenges but what happened with Carillion was hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us," said Mr Groves.
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"We didn't fear that was the end of the project and we had fantastic support from our funder Hermes. We were making decisions on an hourly basis to make sure that things happened really quickly.
"Carillion operated challenging payment terms which cost us a lot of money. When it went bust, we effectively retained its supply chain but we had to pay them again even though we'd already paid Carillion.
"It's an industry-wide issue and our attitude is we pay people on time, why can't everyone else do the same. We should get away from the game of cash flow being the driver for business.
"It should be about doing your job and getting paid."
£700m Paradise Birmingham project
The overall vision for Paradise comprises up to ten new buildings with a heavy emphasis on new grade A offices with an expected completion date of 2028.
There will also be a new 250-bedroom hotel to replace The Copthorne and a residential element, following last month's announcement by Argent that, for the first time, it was now planning to include some city living on the site.
But what of the current office market landscape and the fact that only two major corporate tenants have so far signed on the dotted line to lease space alongside Indian restaurant chain Dishoom and wine bar Vinoteca.
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Mr Groves said positive discussions were taking place regularly with potential new tenants and the team was hopeful of making some "major" announcements in the coming months.
However, this must now be viewed through the prism of coronavirus and its possible long-term impact on both construction work at Paradise and signing off the legal paperwork on any tenancy agreements.
"There are other potential tenants we're talking to and yes some of them are already based in the city but they are looking at taking additional space from us for regional growth," he said.
"I would say, within the next four or five months, we'll have all the space in hands on Two Chamberlain Square based on our discussions at the moment so we're very happy the way it's going.
"Equally, on One Centenary Way, (the third office building) we're happy with where our discussions are going. Hopefully, over the next couple of months we will make one if not two announcements.
"With that in mind, we're now looking how quickly we can start to build out the rest of development."
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The Paradise team is not alone in its bid to transform Birmingham's skyline for the next generation.
Property agents have been warning for years that the city's stock of grade A office space is depleting faster than the market is comfortable with and new construction work cannot keep up with occupier demand.
But as cranes hover over major projects such as Arena Central and 103 Colmore Row while in the longer term the city awaits Martineau Galleries and the Snow Hill Mastplan, will Birmingham reach saturation point and be left with too much empty stock?
"Actually, the worry is the other way round," said Mr Groves.
"If you look at the take up grade A space in Birmingham over an average year, you have to ask what's next? Where is that new space coming from?
"There's very little space available so, if anything, the concern here is going to be whether there will be enough to accommodate even your average year.
"We will start to see new occupiers coming into the city which will generate the big headlines but we'll also see those already based here decentralising from London by having regional growth plans.
"Selfishly, from a Birmingham perspective, we must have good quality grade A space available. If we didn't have the quality office space available then these companies will go to other cities - it's as simple as that."