Halfway between the crash and the comeback, the work of 2012 was cumulative rather than ceremonial. The Entertainment District overlay adopted in these early-decade years was concentrating Old Town’s bars and clubs into a few dense, walkable blocks — on their way to becoming a top national going-out destination and a perennial argument at the council — while the Airpark kept adding the tech, finance, and healthcare payrolls that were quietly rebuilding the economy broader than before.
The next milestones were already visible from here. In 2013 the city would green-light the Museum of the West agreement as the recovery gathered real speed. For 2012, the honest picture is a city in mid-rebuild: prices climbing, offices refilling, and a sixty-year-old slogan — still “The West’s Most Western Town” — waiting on the museum that would finally give it scholarly weight.