Just because what should have been the Renaissance Tower is only a parking lot now doesn't mean the tower isn't still on the "horizon" sort to speak. And whether it ever happens or not isn't scaring way new business.

A lot of businesses and residents looked forward to seeing the old Mountain Inn come down and watching the new Renaissance Tower go up -- but it's not up and only recently got downgraded from a much talked about eye sore of a hole in the ground -- to a less notable paid parking lot.
But economists say the best information out there still has the renaissance tower on the books -- time frame for completion pushed back indefinitely -- but still on the books.
And property owners haven't stopped putting money into revitalizing office and retail space along center street -- but the time frame for new condos filling up and new businesses finally opening up their doors isn't clear thanks to the rough economy. That being said -- even experts remain optimistic that the area will thrive once again.

Economist Jeff Cooperstein says entrepreneurs still see downtown Fayetteville as a good place to locate -- the owner of a popular Little Rock pizza shop tells us he researched for months before deciding to open his fourth store in the former Hoffbrau location on Center Street.