Anyone eager to see some real economic development in progress needs only to stroll a portion of South Salina Street this summer. The 300 block has been a focal point in the city for almost as long as there's been a city, but recent decades have seen a decline characterized by boarded up storefronts. Not for long, however. Eleven buildings are about to be redeveloped using $40 million in private money and $7 million in state funds. They include the old Dey Brothers building and the Wilson building. The rehabilitation will create commercial as well as residential space. The properties belong not to one owner but different owners, confident their investment will be surrounded by others.

"All the individual developers came to the city with a total project cost of what their redevelopment would cost," said Merike Treier, of the Downtown Committee. "There was a gap each of them had that was different for each project and an application went in specific to the gap needed to fill each project," she said.

Treier says major work will commence this summer and within two years a major transformation of the block will have taken place.