During the 1990s, Austin's population increased by 41% (from 465,600 to 656,600), as high-paying tech jobs drew out-of-staters -- quite a few of them Californians with much disposable cash. Many of the new residents moved to the suburban west and northwest, but the economic expansion also fueled a resurgence in the older central city.
Downtown projects at the end of the last century included the restoration of the capitol and its grounds; the refurbishing of the State Theatre; and the renovation of the Driskill Hotel and the reopening of the Stephen F. Austin Hotel, two grand historic properties. The convention center doubled in size and the Bob Bullock Texas History Center, a major tourist attraction, opened in 2001. And now downtown's skyline has begun to transform, too. In early 2004, both the high-rise Hilton Austin Convention Center Hotel and the chic Art Deco-style Frost Bank Tower, the city's tallest building, were completed.
The ongoing conversion of former warehouses and commercial lofts into residential housing is an even more crucial sign that downtown is returning to the land of the living -- and, especially, the eating. A popular farmers' market has sprouted up Saturday mornings on Republic Square, and the opening of the huge new headquarters of the Austin-grown Whole Foods chain on Sixth and Lamar in early 2005 is bound to nurture the growth of downtown's west side.
In addition, the debut of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport south of downtown in 1999 enhanced the development of an area that had already started to make a comeback. South Congress Street (aka SoCo, of course) continues to draw hip galleries and boutiques, many of which stay open late once a month to take part in the new First Thursdays block party. As SoCo gets more mainstream, South Lamar and South First -- not yet dubbed SoLa or SoFi -- have begun to take up the alternative slack, opening stores of the type that characterized South Congress in its earlier, less expensive incarnation. And, in an ultimate Austin act of recycling, the abandoned hangars of the old Robert Mueller airport were transformed into a film production studio in 2000, which has meant more jobs and more activity in a once-decaying north-central neighborhood.
But there are many signs that Austin is becoming a victim of its own success. There's now a gated residential complex right down the street from the famed Continental Club, and, with the rise in rents, many of the struggling musicians who gave Austin's music scene its vitality can no longer afford to live here. Many of Austin's new restaurants are owned by groups of outside investors, and some funky midtown eateries like Kerbey Lane have spun characterless counterparts in the city's soulless northwest. And although the new airport prides itself on its use of local concessionaires, the restaurants and hotels that are springing up alongside the facility are chains. Indeed, locals are sufficiently worried about the city's evolving character that they've spawned a small industry of bumper stickers and T-shirts pleading KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD.
One of the most pressing problems is out-of-control traffic. Formerly bicycle-friendly streets are no longer as hospitable to two-wheelers. And although the freeways are perpetually being expanded, they can't keep pace with the ever-burgeoning population, while in downtown, construction is forcing detours on already choked narrow streets. In 2004, voters approved a commuter rail system that will run from the northern satellite of Cedar Park to downtown, but it will be many years before it might begin to provide relief of the auto glut.
The tech recession halted some of the new construction for a while, but signs of yet another tech boom are evident: In 2003, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, established in 1996 as the company's only semiconductor fabrication plant outside Korea, announced a 3-year, $500-million upgrade and expansion of its facilities. And in 2004, citing the presence in town of such nanotechnology businesses as NanoCoolers and Molecular Imprints -- not to mention a highly educated and tech-savvy workforce -- NanoVance Inc. announced the start-up of a major nanotechnology device manufacturer in Austin. No doubt about it: This comeback-kid of cities, which became capital because of its hubris and feistiness, never stays down for long.
