For decades, the area north of Flamingo Road between Paradise Road and Maryland Parkway has been a collection of trash-strewn washes, vacant lots and run-down, low-rent apartments. A number of projects in the works will start to change the look of the area, but how that will affect residents living nearby remains to be seen. It's a part of town that is ripe for change. As one contractor put it, "That area kind of needs it; there's a lot of blight there."

No changes are currently slated directly on Flamingo, which is fronted on the north with a mixture of relatively new and well established retail locations and restaurants. Just behind those businesses, the story is quite different, with four large construction projects under way and the potential for several more.