I agree that it's naive to call the Domain a second downtown or a "midtown" or "uptown" to Austin, but I think in time the developers and marketers will realize that this is silly and retool their advertising scheme. The simple fact is, the Domain is too far away to be considered a second city center both mentally and physically.
For example, Uptown Houston is not that close to Downtown, Midtown Manhattan is not very close to the Financial District, Downtown LA is at a considerable distance from Century City and the Westside, to name a few...however, there is enough going on between the two nodes of those cities to keep their respective two major nodes connected.
Currently, the majority of all activity in Austin is still centered around Downtown, and aside from the A-ring border of new mixed-use projects surrounding the the Domain's main shopping center, it is still nestled within a web of freeways, boulevards and subdivisions. If Austin's north side were to blossom into a network of districts similar to LA's center of gravity between Downtown and Century, or Houston's developing critical mass between Downtown and Up, then the Domain could see an increased vitality. Truthfully, at present, I'd liken it more to The Woodlands, outside of Houston, or to La Cantera in San Antonio than to, say, even Buckhead in Atlanta. At best, it has potential to become a sort of satellite "city" within the greater Austin area...and the developers would be wise to market it as such, so at least the residents and businesses they sell/lease to will know what they're really in for.
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BUILD IT. BUILD EVERYTHING. BUILD IT ALL.
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