The crane may have just come down last month for Williams & Dame’s Courtyard Marriott/Residence Inn, but construction workers have wasted little time in finishing up the cladding on the building’s eastern facade. The 23-story tower, designed by GBD Architects, will create 393 new hotel rooms when it opens in summer 2014. While the Marriott Tower was Downtown’s lone high-rise bright spot when it broke ground in March 2012, an array of new and revived projects have emerged in South Park during the past year. One block north on Francisco Street, IDS Realty and Shanghai’s Greenland Holdings Group intend to partner on the $1 billion Metropolis development. Across the street from Staples Center, the long-stalled Fig Central project was put up for sale this summer. The Downtown Car Wash (seen in the foreground of the above picture) is reportedly in escrow, and will likely make way for a mixed-use development in the near future. Williams & Dame Development also plans to break ground on a 450-room Renaissance Hotel in early 2014, located next-door to the under-construction Marriott. Very exciting times for South Park.