Until recently, most buildings in the district were beingconverted for use as condominiums and office space, whilerestaurants and upscale retail have been taking over theground-level space. To further such gentrification, the city isrunning a streetcar line through the area.

A mini-boom in telco hotel developments in the area, however, isworrying city officials. They fear much of the street-level spaceenvisioned as pedestrian-friendly retail, will be turned intowindowless walls behind which very few people surrounded by rows ofrefrigerator-sized cabinets serving as hubs for the city's Internettraffic. At least five such projects are underway or just beingcompleted, and two of them are fronting the city's new streetcarline.

So, after a state-mandated 45-day waiting period, the CityCouncil will hold a hearing to decide whether to implement themoratorium that would last approximately four months and beextended for an additional four months. Backing the moratorium arewarehouse district developers Al Solheim and Homer Williams, whobelieve the city needs time to rezone the area or add designcontrols to prevent the facilities from taking more street-levelspace.