Yes, the 800-room hotel is an important ingredient and one that complements the expansion of the Austin Convention Center next door. Construction is to begin Wednesday after the city of Austin sold $262.5 million in bonds for the project.While the area's development is continuing, it still has a way to go to match Sixth Street and the Warehouse District...but there is progress.

Three restaurants--PF Chang's, Fleming's Steakhouse and Roy's--have renovated warehouse space just west of the convention center on Second Street and are nearly ready to open. A bit further north, on Fifth Street, Eddie V's restaurant, located in a former tire store, has opened in recent months. Anytime you can restaurants like that in the area, "that's a favorable development," says Charles Betts, executive director of the Downtown Austin Alliance.

A 16-story, 222-room Hampton's Inns hotel is ready to start construction at Second and San Jacinto Streets. That's a far cry from what the area looked like a few years ago. Populated by industrial and warehouse buildings, it was a place to park your car while you walked the Sixth Street scene.