To buy a condo in downtown San Antonio two years ago took a lot of confidence ... and guts.

But it seems to have worked out well for Jim and Donna Perkins.

The couple was the second buyer at the Vidorra condos on Center Street near Sunset Station, and believed in downtown life so much they bought two units, one on the sixth floor and one on the 18th.

"I was a little nervous at first," said Jim, who works at Fort Sam Houston, which he can see out the condo windows. "You kind of just had to go with your gut feeling."

But coming from Miami, they had condo experience, and had been waiting for that option in San Antonio.

"We're excited about downtown," Donna said. "You're so central and traveling around is so easy."

Until recently, San Antonio had few downtown and central city living options, especially compared with other cities around the country. But several hundred units will be opening up in the coming year, giving San Antonio its own budding urban community.

"Having the new projects come online is a big deal, but I think from the awareness standpoint, the fact that people are starting to look at and consider downtown has been the big change," said Steve Yndo, owner of Yndo Commercial Real Estate Co. "We're starting to see people who I've always known as being typical North Siders or longtime Alamo Heights people planning on moving down here."

Between 2007 and 2015, there will be a need for as many as 2,000 new apartments and 2,000 new condos in the downtown area, he said.

He says the demand is coming from people who value their time, efficient living spaces, cultural events and social relationships.

Yndo is developing the 66-unit St. Benedict's condos on South Alamo Street, which start in the $170,000s. He hopes to have 40 percent to 50 percent of the units sold when the project is complete in March or April.

"We're just now starting to see people looking at our project who are assuming they'll move here because of the military, and I'm sure that will pick up," Yndo said. As many as 12,000 additional military personnel are expected to work at Fort Sam Houston in the next couple of years.

The condo life hasn't been concentrated in the heart of downtown, though. Projects that stretch north and south along the San Antonio River continue to take shape.

"We have basically started to get some traction under the Pearl (development)," said Paul Beard, managing director of the Pearl Brewery, which occupies 22 acres along the river north of downtown. "One of the things we've done is to substantially complete the build-out of the Full Goods Building."

Beard himself is a new addition. He was previously managing director of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.

The Full Goods Building is mostly retail and office space, but it also has eight live-work apartments. Next year, Silver Ventures, the brewery's developer, will start construction on a new building predominantly for parking and classroom space for the Culinary Institute of America. And it also will provide 14 more residential units.

"It's really a creative community," Beard said. "The people moving into the live-work space are artists, architects, designers. They like the energy, and they like the philosophy."

Though projects at the brewery will continue next year, the developers aren't going to spill the beans on any specifics just yet.

"There will be a lot more of it down the road," Beard said. "Certainly in 2009 we'll be able to present really exciting plans for it."

South of downtown, the former Lone Star Brewery site has been cleaned of the 12 years of growth and debris it accumulated while unoccupied.

The project's new owner, B. Knightly Development & Construction, is turning the 23-acre site into a mixed-use development with 190 condos. The next step is renovating the iconic smoke stack.

In February, work should begin on phase one of the condos, which will have 60 units.

"We seem to be getting more than our share of attention right now" from prospective buyers, said Mark Tolley, managing partner with B. Knightly.

Tolley said he wants to achieve LEED certification. He is working with a company out of Austin called FTL Solar to use flexible solar panels as shade coverings.

He said those interested have ranged from young professionals to retirees.

Another development visible from many parts of the city is The Broadway condos, which is nearing its 20-story height at the corner of Hildebrand Avenue and Broadway.

The Broadway condos will top out in January, but it will be another year before residents can begin moving in because finishing out a $500,000-plus condo takes time.

Of the 92 condos, about a third have been sold, said Mike Reddell, president of Ironstone Marketing Group, the company handling marketing for the condo.

"We really have a beautiful story here," Red McCombs, founder of the Koontz McCombs, the project's developer, said during a recent media tour. "Nothing exceeds this landmark right here."

McCombs thinks that in four years, the original condo buyers will be able to resell their condo for 50 percent more than their purchase price.

"It's a Four Seasons resort place to live," said Bart Koontz of Koontz McCombs. "You can see that this is the linchpin of the entire north Broadway corridor."

Though it's not quite as ritzy at The Broadway, Judson's Candy Factory Lofts have transformed a site along South Flores Street from a graffiti-marred abandoned building into hip new lofts.

The first residents at the 84-unit complex started moving in last month. The last undeveloped building at the site, a former Italian market, is 90 percent finished and should be done in the next couple of months.

"We still have about 17 units still available," said Lorie Campos, a real estate agent with Downtown Dwellings, who is handling the sales. "I think it has transformed that area already. If you think about it, the people who lived around there and worked there had to look at this empty building; and now it's beautiful, and people are living there and they're walking around."

Though it's not downtown, the Quarry Village project has been recognized because of its mixed-use nature: It has 280 apartment units above retail space and is right next to the plentiful shopping and dining at the Alamo Quarry Market.

It was scheduled to receive its first certificate of occupancy last week.

"This means we will be ready for some of our first leases to move into units on the golf course level and our leasing team can move on site and lease out of and show actual apartments," said Suzanne White with Embrey Partners Ltd., the project's developer. "This way, prospects can come to the development and really see and understand our product."

That seems to be the biggest challenge right now for these multifamily, mixed-use and urban projects - simply getting people to understand them.

"I have people who say, ‘I have to see it done with the landscaping and everything,' before they'll become serious about buying," said Angela Rinehart, sales director of the Vidorra.