Downtown Napa is getting its mojo back.

North on Main Street and all along First Street, ground has been broken for two hotels, two store/office complexes and a public market that backers hope will rival the million-shopper draw of Napa Premium Outlets.

Come spring, the $50 million Riverfront at Third and Main, a keystone project with stores, restaurants, offices and condos, is expected to be rising by the river.

This will be the greatest construction surge in downtown's history. By next summer, nearly $200 million worth of commercial projects totaling 640,000 square feet should be going up.

City-sponsored redevelopment in the 1970s was only half as big.

In many cases, projects delayed for years due to an ailing tourist economy, lack of key tenants or slow progress by the flood control project are finally coming to life. The stage is set for two years of furious construction activity at all four corners of the central business district, with the prospect of yet more to come.

With two more hotels possible near Copia and an office/residential development at the Cinedome theater, downtown could easily have more than 1 million square feet in new construction within a decade, officials say.

This would be a more than 50 percent increase in downtown's current non-residential square footage, according to city figures.

"There is all of a sudden ... plenty of buyers who believe in downtown," said Bill Kampton, a commercial broker with Colliers International who is leasing space at Napa Square, which is under construction at First and Randolph streets.

The opening of Copia five years ago helped put downtown on the map and now others want part of the action, said Harry Price, owner of Napa Mill and a partner in Napa Square. "I think downtown is now perceived as part of the Napa Valley," he said.

"You have to be a believer in downtown Napa," said Chris Gebert, a vice president of development with Lodgeworks, which is building the $43 million, 142-room Inn at Town Center on First.

Gebert is so bullish, he predicts that downtown in five years will be "another Aspen, Colorado, or at least we hope it will be."

Cassandra Walker, the city's economic development manager, doesn't buy the Aspen aspiration. "We're creating the type of downtown that locals will want to see," she said.

What is undeniable, Walker said, is that "a lot of factors have aligned in this time and in this space" to create change on a dramatic scale.

"I think downtown's image has changed," said Doyle Wiseman of the Wiseman Company, who is investing an estimated $12 million to build a three-story commercial building at Main and Clinton streets.

Downtown is hot, with land values more than doubling since he opened his first office building five years ago at Main and First, Wiseman said.

"Napa downtown prices are a lot like city downtown prices," said Wiseman, who paid more than $100 a square foot for his north Main site.

This is four times the price of a Fairfield business park, but his office tenants are willing to pay it, he said. They like downtown Napa's urban amenities, such as restaurants.

Movement at Merrills

With the pace of change picking up, the Altamura family may be ready to make its move with Napa Town Center and the empty Merrills building on First.

Come February, the Altamuras intend to share a conceptual plan with the city of Napa Planning Commission for a five-story condo development, with retail on the first floor.

The Upvalley cities are essentially full, and the unincorporated areas of the county are off limits to most development, George Altamura Jr. said. "The only place you can buy property and do something is in the city of Napa," he said.

By encouraging hotels and condos downtown, the city will finally have the shoppers to attract the stores needed to make downtown the commercial hub it once was, Altamura said.

Steve Carlin, CEO of Oxbow Public Market, is banking on downtown achieving unprecedented popularity with tourists, but he isn't worried.

"If you are going to do something spectacular, you are going to have to take a high amount of risk," Carlin said. "We like to be out in front of the curve. It doesn't frighten us. We're long-term investors."

Oxbow Public Market, with affordable restaurants, food stalls and other merchants, will be located next to Copia, which opened five years ago, very much in front of the curve.

After five years of disappointing attendance, Copia is overhauling its business plan and hoping to sell off its south gardens for a hotel-retail development.

At the current pace of change, Copia and the new Oxbow District should soon be in the tourism mainstream, said Carlin, who predicts the Oxbow Public Market alone could draw 1 million visitors a year. This would be more than five times the number now going to Copia.

When the flood project is completed sometime in the next decade and the risk of flooding eliminated, even more entrepreneurs will want to be downtown near the river, Carlin said. Land values will continue to soar, he said.

"I think Napa is on the map for growth," said Mike DeSimoni, whose family company, Channel Properties, will be developing Riverfront at Third and Main.

Lenders are naturally cautious about a high-end, mixed-use development on the river that could cost up to $50 million, DeSimoni said. The family will be using its own resources to finance the project, he said.

"I believe the project will be a home run," said DeSimoni, who expects to start construction in April.

Office rents could be in the $4 to $6 a square foot range, well above anything now charged in downtown -- "we will break the sound barrier" -- but DeSimoni isn't worried. "I think it will be the address to have and the building to be in," he said.

DeSimoni's project is in keeping with city policies that now encourage developments that mix commercial and residential uses. The city is also allowing greater height and density, wanting downtown to achieve a concentration of vitality that has been missing.