Downtown Sacramento finally showed some life in 2011, with the debut of a popular entertainment complex at 10th and K streets, the opening of a host of new shops in the same area and a commitment by a big Bay Area retailer to open a sporting goods emporium at the former Bank of America site at Eighth and I streets.

But that's nothing compared to what's ahead for the downtown core in 2012, with the start of several big projects and – just maybe – a deal for a new downtown arena.

That, at least, is the view from our crystal ball as we look forward to a year of exciting but isolated breakthroughs amid a continuing slow economic recovery.

Here, then, is our fearless forecast for local business and economic developments:

• D&S Development will line up the financing and tax credits it needs to start work by early summer on a long-awaited transformation of the 700 block of K Street.

• A local investment group will acquire the Westfield Downtown Plaza and begin revitalizing the long-struggling center.

• Sports Basement's move into the downtown core will be followed by the arrival of another major retailer eager to take advantage of downtown's improving business climate.

• Entrepreneur George Karpaty, the man behind the "mermaid" bar and two other downtown venues, will announce plans for a new downtown nightspot with more over-the-top attractions.

• Adjacent to Karpaty's mermaid-themed Dive Bar, in the now-vacant building, a seasoned operator will open yet another entertainment venue – this one offbeat in the extreme.

• We'll see a slow year at Sac International Airport, despite the opening of that spiffy new terminal. Southwest, the airport's biggest operator, will cut local flights due to the economy and higher fees. Virgin America will hold off on making its Sacramento debut. Direct flights to Europe (via British Airways) also are more than a year away. One possible bright spot: Alaska Airlines will start new service from Sacramento to Kauai and Cabo.

• We're not expecting much progress on that bold plan to build the "most sustainable (residential) building in the world" on CADA-owned land at 16th and P streets. Financing for such projects is just too hard to find.

• The Department of General Services will back off controversial plans to include a "subject to appropriation" in future leases, allowing state tenants to leave buildings without penalty if the Legislature doesn't appropriate money for the lease.

• Restaurateur Randall Selland will take over the former David Berkley site at the Pavilions shopping center on Fair Oaks Boulevard.

• Production will finally begin on a Hollywood movie about the 1991 siege at a South Sacramento Good Guys store. Key actors will include Kurt Russell and Modesto native Jeremy Renner.

• The Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce will make big strides (in membership, financial stability and political clout) under the direction of new leader Roger Niello.

• It will be a year of turmoil in the local grocery business, with newcomer Fresh & Easy opening several stores, Raley's closing under-achieving stores and the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op identifying a new, larger site.

• A new plan will surface for the development of the so-called Centrage property in east Sacramento. This one will have solutions to most of the obstacles that have prevented development of the off-freeway site for more than two decades.

• Country Club Plaza will finally be sold. Yes, it will – even though we seem to predict this every year and nothing happens except further declines at a once-proud center.

• It will be a breakout year for several local startup firms, among them "price-optimization" firm Revionics and CustomerLink Systems, which helps auto repair shops.

• It will be a tough year for many others, including one venerable Sacramento firm that shockingly calls it quits after more than 50 years in business.

• Dollar stores, the darling of the economic downturn, will continue to pop up in unlikely locales. Including mainstream malls.

• This will be the year of the noodle bar, with national chains opening ramen-type eateries throughout the area. Among the big newcomers: British-owned Wagamama.

• Finally, that deal for a new basketball arena? Officials will squeeze enough money from parking privatization to make an arena financing plan possible. The Kings? Here We Stay.

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Call The Bee's Bob Shallit, (916) 321-1049.

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