"There's a lot of activity for the recession we're in," says Betts, executive director of the Downtown Austin Alliance. "It's a huge vote of confidence in the future of downtown and Austin that these projects are coming on line in the midst of a fairly significant recession."

Another vote was cast this week when Ballet Austin bought a 28,000-sf building at 501 W. Third St. for its headquarters and dance facilities. Also this week CLB Partners started work on its 82-unit Austin City Lofts on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and West Avenue. Ten units have been sold and four have been reserved, says Bobby Naill, a CLB vice president managing the project.

Even through the downturn that has pushed up vacancy rates for most commercial properties--retail has been the exception so far--the cranes and construction crews have been busy downtown. Betts cites burgeoning residential projects as evidence of the downtown's continuing vitality. In addition to Austin City Lofts, Phoenix Properties' has a 139-unit project going up on the southeast corner of Fifth and West and AMLI Residential is pushing ahead on a 220-unit apartment project at Second and Guadalupe streets in the middle of the new city hall plaza project. "That represents a significant increase in the downtown residential population," he says. The planned Whole Foods Markets Inc.'s 80,000-sf flagship grocery stores and seven-story office building will add to the downtown's strength, Betts says.