Once again, our capital city made national news this week as CNN reported that Austin tops the list of fastest growing cities with metro areas of over 1 million residents. Based on the number of in-flight construction projects downtown, that’s not surprising. We have so much construction here that even the sidewalk construction sheds are being painted with murals.

(Speaking of murals, I noticed that CNN needs to update their file photos. The Austin Live Music Capital of the World mural on their web page now hangs inside a bar and no longer faces Sixth Street as their picture shows. This changed over a year ago.)

The new JW Marriott on Congress Avenue topped out in January. Most of the glass windows have been installed now. The hotel is expected to be open in time for South by Southwest in March 2015.

The buildings around Ninth and Congress are now gone and will be replaced by a five-story office building. This is a welcome improvement for the northern blocks of Congress Avenue just south of the Capitol.

 Colorado Tower, at the corner of Third and Colorado, is moving right along. This office building is expected to open in the fall.

The construction sites along Cesar Chavez are humming with activity. The far site next to the Seaholm Power Plant will be the new Central Library. The closer (eastern) site is expected to be an apartment building.

Here’s what the parking garage at Fifth and Brazos looked like two weeks ago. Now crews are removing all the rubble so that construction can soon begin on…wait for it…an eight-story parking garage!