Bulldozers haul old plaster and iron from a once graceful train station under renovation.
Construction workers lay wiring at a nearly complete convention center. And shoppers stroll through a new upscale mall. This city of 165,000, the second largest in New England behind Boston, is in the thick of the biggest and most concentrated downtown building boom in its history. It is staking its future on the health and majesty of its business hub, which has so often been eclipsed by Boston 38 miles to the east. It was not a unanimous decision locally, though much of the work is paid for by federal and state largesse made possible by a strong economy.