HOUSTON – Shiny skyscrapers, brand new hotels and luxury high rise apartments: Houston's skyline is rapidly changing.
Debbie Harwell is a longtime Houstonian. She grew up inside her parents' record store off McKinney and Main in downtown Houston.
"In the 1950's when my parents had their shop down here in downtown it was an exciting place to be," said Harwell, "It was hopping."
Harwell was fond of downtown in the 50's, "I knew every building," she said.
But, now things are changing.
"Today it's very difficult to keep a beat on exactly what all the buildings are that are downtown," said Harwell.
That's because downtown Houston is in the middle of a big expansion.
Donald Henderson, the president of the Board for the Houston Downtown Management District, is excited about the future.
"Chevron making downtown their campus, Hines is considering a new building, what Skanska is doing to the old Houston Club building," said Henderson.
Henderson added, "It's booming right now and it feels good."
Earlier this month Gov. Perry was in Houston talking about all this demand for new high rise real estate.
"None of this happened by accident," said Perry. He added, "We worked very hard to create the best economic climate in this country."
But the city has made mistakes with its growth, Henderson admits. Houston is the fourth largest city in the U.S. but only ranks 25th in convention center attendance.
"The problem, we simply didn't have enough hotels," said Henderson. He added, "We're making a lot of inroads into correcting that problem."
Just announced, the new Marriott Marquis, a thousand room convention hotel and a lot of smaller hotels. Including, converting the aging Savoy Hotel into a New Holiday Inn.
So what's next for Houston's changing landscape?
"I think downtown eventually will start to spread further east, a little bit more north, and of course we need to take care of the south end of downtown," said Henderson.
He added, "I'm hoping instead of downtown meeting midtown, I'd like midtown come toward downtown."
And Debbie Harwell said she's okay with that.
"You just see the skyline change. I have to say I still think it's a beautiful skyline even though it's not the same one I grew up with," said Harwell.