Hi ho. We're back. Miss us? Happy new year. For the first time, I rang it in with friends from Syracuse (and one from New Jersey, with whom I've also never rung in the new year). It felt damn good to be with damn fine people in a damn fine city on a warm night. Thanks, A and D!

Picking up The Post-Standard this morning, the fat hed across the top of the front page warms the heart:

City Sites Eyed for Housing, Shops, Art Studios

Ah, yes, and that's not even the best part. The best part is that it's a fake headline – just a tease. There are three stories inside about great projects happening in the city.

If you head a little west of downtown to Tipperary Hill, you'll find Coleman's, a green-on-the-top traffic light, and my friend R. You'll also find the Rosamond Gifford Zoo over in Burnet Park. And next to that, a 48-acre site that has a former mental institution on it.

That land is up for bid, and if Hal Travis has his way, there will soon be houses, condos and office space over there.

Travis and some investors are looking at building some nice houses – patios and all – that would run about $200,000 apiece (reasonable in today's U.S. housing market, pretty upscale for this area – you'd be able to cash in on this if that were your thing).

Bids are due Jan. 17.

Also on the near West Side, over at West Fayette and Geddes, there's this grayish-white building that was at one time a factory and is now just a five-story, 65,000-square foot structure sitting on the corner.

Last year, Rick Destito bought it, and he's putting artist and musician studios in it.

In a word: Awesome.

Artists love affordable housing, and cities love having artists. Win-win.

Even better: Remember Th3? We wrote about it after a trip in October (it starts back up in February). Well, this building isn't all that far from Delevan, where we started that journey. And who couldn't use another Th3 venue to visit as they walk? I know I could.

Quick: What's missing? New Centro Center on South Salina. New jobs at Excellus. The restoration of the Landmark. New stuff going in on Clinton Street. The renovation of the Wilson Building.

That's right: The 300 block of South Salina Street.

Big gaping underdeveloped hole in the middle of downtown, right?

Not anymore. The Metropolitan Development Foundation is hoping to draw a major developer. The foundation picked up a few buildings over there and around the corner on West Fayette.

Right now, I think it's a fairly unattractive spot for a developer. It's part of the "four corners," which essentially serve as the public bus hub. That means no parking, no street-level visibility, and lots of people standing around waiting.

Once that bus station gets built, it's not only a matter of that space becoming prime real estate, it's a matter of it become prime real estate overnight. When people start transferring at the new Centro station, you have (a) no more people standing around waiting for the bus instead of shopping, (b) visibility of store fronts to people driving by (since the buses aren't blocking the view), and (c) more parking, since that space isn't taken up by bus stops anymore.

There's also a lovely little urban park across the street, which most people don't even bother to notice.

Ah, what a happy little Friday.

Since We've Been Away: Some Updates

The Inner Harbor is still really pretty. H. was up from Jersey over the weekend, and I brought her out there and bored her with visions of development. Speaking of, the Canal Corporation is due to have its recommendation of what to do with the land on Jan. 17. That's 12 days and counting, kids.

The Carousel Center didn't go back on the tax rolls on Monday. Instead, there was a 90-day extension because of the whole lawsuit thing. But you know what? There's still an unused pile of steel sitting in the parking lot. Shocking, I know.

That's about it for now. Hopefully, this is a sign that we're back to regular posting. Yay!