Murray, 43, may well be right. Her $1.5 million, 5,300- square-foot residence next to the stately pink Renaissance Vinoy Resort offers sweeping views of Tampa Bay as well as downtown's changing skyline.

``The view is everything,'' says Murray, an artist and mother of two teenagers.

Few would disagree. These days, everyone seems to be coming to St. Petersburg's picturesque bayfront - new urbanites such as Murray, builders erecting more luxury condominium towers and millions of visitors who flock to the water's edge every year to enjoy a smorgasbord of events.

``Very few cities in the country can match the ambience that we have in downtown St. Pete,'' Mayor Rick Baker says.

Within the past decade, the area has been transformed from a sleepy business district into a lively mix of shops, restaurants, offices, entertainment venues and, increasingly, high-end residences.

The turnaround, Baker and other city and business leaders say, is due largely to what is perhaps St. Petersburg's greatest natural asset - the Bay.

``Our waterfront has had everything to do with the renaissance,'' says Ron Barton, the city's economic development director. ``It's what everybody craves ... whether it's to look at or to live on it.''

Preserving Waterfront For Parks

The process began shortly after St. Petersburg was incorporated in 1903, when city forefathers decided to reclaim a decaying and neglected waterfront of rotting piers and old boats at the urging of the city's Board of Trade.

The result is a downtown shoreline that - although still not pristine - isn't at all like Tampa's, which is crowded with the wharves, warehouses, dry docks and tank farms of a working port.

It's protected by nearly five miles of parks that play host to 350 events a year, ranging from boat shows to art festivals.

``I think a lot of people have historically underestimated what those events mean to people looking to invest and develop projects downtown,'' Barton says. ``It's an economic driver because it generates people and activity.''

Indeed, as cities elsewhere have realized, successful waterfronts can be powerful economic engines - creating jobs, luring visitors and encouraging suburbanites to move back into the urban core.

``From the standpoint of attracting people downtown, it's been a phenomenal events venue,'' says Russ Sloan, president of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. ``But it is also becoming a real attractor on the residential end.''

In a city that has all but exhausted land for single-family homes, downtown - with its zoning for high-density, high- rise housing - has become St. Petersburg's fastest-growing neighborhood.

Since 1999, more than 590 residential units have been built downtown. An additional 900 have been proposed or are under construction, including Parkshore Plaza, an $80 million project that will include a 30-story tower with 118 condo units and 18 town homes at 300 Beach Drive.

``It's really an unusual combination of things where you can have your home and your business and your cultural and recreational options all within a stone's throw of Tampa Bay,'' says Don Shea, president of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. ``So we're able, by the accident of geography and the deliberate actions of city fathers, to take advantage of all that.''

Vinoy, Dome Aided Revitalization

Many say restoring the once- dilapidated Renaissance Vinoy Resort, which overlooks the northern waterfront, was the cradle of this rebirth. The $93 million project, completed in 1992, represented the first major private investment into what was then a still- struggling downtown.

The revival also was aided by huge and controversial public investments the city made in the 1980s.

Tens of millions of tax dollars were spent on several projects, including the Florida Suncoast Dome, now called Tropicana Field and the home since 1998 of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and renovations of the Bayfront Center, Mahaffey Theater and The Pier, the city's postcard tourist attraction.

Even a failed plan to turn downtown into a ritzy shopping district called Bay Plaza contributed to the success.

BayWalk, the $40 million retail and entertainment complex that draws more than 3 million visitors a year, opened in 2000 on 1 1/2 blocks of downtown land the city assembled for Bay Plaza.

Another key project, the $50 million Florencia condominium tower, was built on the site of the former Soreno Hotel, which was imploded for Bay Plaza in 1992.

``The irony is much of our success today would not have been possible without Bay Plaza,'' says Sloan, the chamber president. ``I think we may have reached that critical mass where success will now breed success.''

In other words, the more people move downtown, the more others will follow them.

`Not Just One Age Group'

The new downtown residents tend to be like William and Carmen Moore, older empty- nesters who downsized after their two grown children moved out. The Moores were among the first to buy one of the Florencia's 50 luxury units, attracted by the convenience of being near shops, restaurants and other attractions.

``You can walk to the movies. You can walk to a restaurant,'' says Moore, a physician. ``You can ride a trolley and go to a baseball game.''

His wife enjoys downtown's diversity, a far cry from when the city was derisively nicknamed ``God's Waiting Room'' for its intense concentration of retirees and omnipresent green sidewalk benches.

``It's nice because it's not just one age group in downtown anymore,'' she says. ``There's a mixture of college kids and young professionals and older people.''

Living downtown is also about the view, which is stunning from Murray's penthouse at Vinoy Place, a $65 million development of four condominium towers and a series of upscale town homes along Beach Drive.

The vista includes such landmarks as The Pier, the Sunshine Skyway and the tilted dome of Tropicana Field. On a clear day, she can even see the Tampa skyline.

``I wake up and watch all of the sailboats go out every Sunday morning,'' says Murray, who used to live in Lakeland. ``I love to sit out here in the early evening, just before it's dark.''

And from her vantage point, one day it might be even better.

``This is just an exciting time for downtown St. Pete,'' she says. ``I'm really excited to see what the next five years brings.''

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 823- 3412.