Remember all the to-do when the Suffolk Hilton was going up near the intersection of Main Street and Godwin Boulevard? Remember reading in the News-Herald about its beginning, building, and, ultimately opening?

Well, it’s time to gear right back up – because over the next few years, Suffolk might get another taste of a build-up to greatness.

Starting today, the department-head meeting could give the thumbs-up to Rick Gregor and his proposed Centre 800 building that could soon begin to take up 3.8 acres of West Washington Street. It could be a place to work, eat, sleep, play, shop and just about everything else. The $35 million project could become quite the landmark in Suffolk, an extra shot of adrenaline to Suffolk’s already thriving downtown.

The Hilton didn’t start downtown’s move toward a metropolitan-it just helped it along a great deal. And now something else will push the envelope just a little bit further, and we’ll be even farther on our way to an upper class that stretches all the way across Virginia’s largest land-massed city.

It could bring in more and more business. It could give our economy the same boost that the Hilton did. More money. Bigger houses. Higher population. More jobs. By this time in a few years, the neighborhoods around downtown Suffolk might start to resemble those near Harbour View.

It’s just the latest sign that Suffolk is moving right along. We have a Hilton. We have people lining up to create new restaurants across downtown. Ruby Tuesday’s is about to start up on Route 10. In a few years, it won’t be a question of what there is to do around Suffolk – it’s a question of what there isn’t to do.

It’s a good time to be in Suffolk-and it’s a time that everyone wants to experience.