Keeping up with the pace and volume in St. Petersburg, from the water's edge to the northern city limits, is a herculean task. Jim King, for example, is senior vice president of George F. Young Inc., a St. Petersburg-based engineering and planning firm. "We get one new project a week," he says. "Residential, manufacturing, mixed use, retail, restaurants, a little bit of everything. And it's not just us. All the engineers I talk to are as busy as can be and they're staffing up. We probably have increased our staff by 50 percent in the last three years. I've been in business here for many, many years and never seen anything like it in this city."

King shared a list of 32 projects his firm is currently helping clients develop in the city, checking one-by-one to see that the magazine knew of them. Most we were familiar with; a few were new to us.

One that we heard about was actually so new that even King hadn't heard about it. A regular client of his is developing it, so he was surprised to learn of it second-hand. But that's a reflection of the incredible development pace being experienced.

Something similar occurred when we talked with Cindy Margiotta, economic development manager for the City of St. Petersburg. She was excitedly talking about plans for The Peninsula, a project whose design is so unique that, within days of being announced, an early rendering appeared - in color - in the Wall Street Journal. But what Margiotta didn't know was that the name of the project had changed - it's now called Signature Place.

"You're kidding," she said. (The project, which was featured prominently as The Peninsula in an April 20 Wall Street Journal story on urban architecture, was known three weeks earlier as SkyPlace.)

Downtown gets most of the attention, from the hundreds of new condos and lofts announced or on the rise of the all-new All Children's Hospital, the start of construction on at least two new hotels (Westin Grand Bohemian and Courtyard by Marriott), the first-ever residence hall at the city's University of South Florida campus or the impending arrival of Barnes & Noble.

"It's mind boggling," Margiotta says. "We're just trying to keep up. And while the perception is that we're all about towers, go down to University Village and you'll see all the smaller projects."

Oh, and there are cultural and sports developments, too, including the return of Grand Prix racing to the streets; the re-opening of the St. Petersburg Museum of History following a $1.5-million expansion; the approval of a 2007 relocation and $20-million expansion of the Salvador Dali Museum; the opening of the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum; and late word that Cirque du Soleil will bring its SRO circus with flair ("Varekai") back to town for the third straight year, this time during Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's.

In 2005, St. Petersburg also became home to two international boxing champions (Winky Wright, the undisputed Middleweight Champion, and Jeff Lacy, the IBF Super Middleweight Champion) and the winner of the Indianapolis 500 (Dan Wheldon). A new home for the Florida Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is in development as part of a mixed-use project near Tropicana Field. And there are unconfirmed rumors that Odyssey Marine in Tampa is site shopping for an underwater museum to be built in St. Petersburg.

The rest of the city is a work-in-progress, too. Wal- Mart had no sooner opened its second store in St. Petersburg (on 34th Street South), than it announced plans to open a third on Gandy Boulevard. (That one was temporarily halted by citizen protest, and the retail mammoth decided to end its bid to build the supercenter.) Tyrone Square Mall is in the midst of not just a facelift but also a re-imaging as an indoor/outdoor shopping center. Eckerd College opened a new $15-million library as part of a 20-year master plan.

Finally, let's just sum up residential values in a word: Skyrocketing.