Blowin' Smoke reopened recently in its new location at the corner of Habersham and 33rd streets. During its first five years on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Blowin' Smoke primarily served BBQ, but the new menu is much broader and more inventive.

The rebirth of Drayton Tower is great news for downtown Savannah. For the last half of the 20th century, the international style building on Liberty Street had 188 small apartments.

Brick House opened just before St. Patrick's Day in the former Blowin' Smoke space on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

On Friday afternoon, there were still vacancies at a significant number of Savannah hotels, including several premier ones in the Historic District. Just before 9 a.m.

Before the St. Patrick's Day mania began, a friend and I made our first trip to the lovely new beer garden at Moon River Brewing Company. The ambitious project has redefined the highly visible southeast corner of Bay and Whitaker streets.

The Georgia Department of Labor's numbers for January reveal pretty much what we expected. The employment situation in Savannah and the state is improving steadily. That simple message has gotten a little muddled in a few recent press accounts.

It's only been about a month since word came that the Asheville restaurant VegHeads was planning a Savannah location. And the casual vegetarian restaurant is now open at 35 Whitaker St. in a narrow storefront just south of Congress Street.

When a friend and I arrived for dinner last Tuesday at the new Joe’s Crab Shack on River Street, the joint was hopping. Literally. As we sat down, the volume of the music spiked and many of the young servers, all clad in tie-dye T-shirts, started disco dancing....

On a rainy night last week, a friend and I had a satisfying dinner at the new Tondee's Tavern, which opened recently in the old Tony Roma's space at 7 E. Bay St. The name is a nod to a key piece of Savannah's history.

Well we made it through January, a pretty rocky month for the economy even in good years. And now comes the sprint through Savannah's late winter and spring festivals.

The newish Family Dollar on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard opened a few months ago, but I just shopped there for the first time recently.

I probably sound like a broken record to regular readers, but the big City Talk story of 2012 was the surge in major investment in underutilized properties in the greater downtown area. And that's likely going to be a big story in 2013, too.

So what's in store for the Savannah area economy in 2013? Predictions are problematic at this point because of some significant variables - ones that are especially frustrating since they are entirely under human control.

In my first City Talk column of 2012, I made some local economic predictions for the coming year. How'd those turn out? In that column a year ago, I expressed considerable confidence about the continuation of slow but steady growth.

One chilly day last week, I had a late and satisfying lunch at the new Moe's Southwest Grill in the Cay Building on Ellis Square. The restaurant occupies the southwest portion of the new office building's ground floor.

A martial arts studio was the most recent business at the northwest corner of Whitaker and Broughton streets. It always seemed an odd spot for a personal service business that appealed only to a tiny fraction of pedestrians.

Walking into The 5 Spot on its first full day in business, I was immediately struck by the airiness of the space and the beautiful windows facing west and south.

On Thursday, the Downtown Design District will host its annual Holiday Walk. A few dozen stores along the Whitaker Street corridor from Jones to Gaston streets will stay open through the evening.

The new B&D Burgers is now open at 209 West Congress St. That's in the heart of downtown, just across the street from Ellis Square and City Market.

We stopped in last week at Epazote, another good addition to the downtown restaurant scene. The new Mexican spot opened recently at 5 West Broughton St. with a hearty, casual and inexpensive menu.

The completion of the Truman Parkway will have positive impacts on the city's commerce and culture. Many southside residents will have much easier access to other parts of the city and a relatively easy route downtown.

Levy Jewelers has been a Savannah staple for 113 years. The last 75 of those have been at the corner of Drayton and Broughton streets. Now Levy Jewelers has entered a new era with the closing of that store and the opening of a far grander one just a block away at the northeast corner of Broughton and Bull streets.

After a protracted stagnation, we're seeing some significant improvement in the local jobs market.

If you had wandered Broughton Street on a Sunday evening a decade ago, you would have had the street pretty much to yourself.