Long Ignored, Sleepy Wine Valley Town Gets Champagne Treatment

"There is Napa, the valley, with its picturesque vineyards, boutique hotels and wineries. Then there is this blue-collar community of diners and bowling alleys, sitting at the southern end of the affluent valley to which it lent its name.

For years, it was virtually impossible to confuse the two. Napa, the city, rarely gave outsiders much reason to stop. And residents here were proud of that distinction, content to shirk the limelight as limousines sped along nearby Route 29.

"You travel around the world and everyone knows where Napa is, but the town of Napa had been left behind," said Mike DeSimoni Sr., the president of Channel Properties in Richmond, which is building Napa's first mixed-use development.

The city of Napa is quickly catching up with its more famous neighbors farther north, like Yountville, St. Helena and Rutherford, adding wine-tasting rooms, upscale restaurants and hotels in its drive to remake itself into something of a Yountville South. Developers have poured more than $300 million into new stores, offices and condominiums, which promise to double the size of Napa's downtown. A Westin hotel is under construction; the Ritz-Carlton has one planned."