Port of Spain takes center stage: Trinidad and Tobago's capital has been preparing for its star turn as host of two major international summits in 2009.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle

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The old Breakfast Shed was a weather-beaten, too-hot structure made of galvanized metal; still, it was a beloved, brightly painted landmark on Port of Spain's waterfront. It was the kind of place where hungry dockworkers might rub elbows with local musicians or politicians as they sampled hearty Creole fare like saltfish buljol or coconut bakes.

When the homey eatery was about to be razed more than three years ago to make way for a new high-rise hotel and business complex, Bernadette Smith was among those who went on TV to protest the decision.

"Most people don't like to accept change," she said recently, explaining her initial reaction. Smith, who had run Gina's Kitchen in the old place for 27 years and heads the vendors' Femmes du Chalet Breakfast Shed Ladies Cooperative, decided to take the government's offered payout of more than US$33,000 and retire. But she didn't cash the check right away, and when she saw the new Breakfast Shed under construction in a nearby location she decided to ask for her stall back.

"When I saw how the place was looking, I decided to give [the money] back" and stay in business, Smith said. Pointing to the clean, airy food court, cooled by overhead fans and a breeze from the sea, she added that she had made the right decision. "We're comfortable here," she said. "I'm happy."

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The new site occupies a tiny piece of what Prime Minister Patrick Manning has touted as the largest construction project ever undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago. The International Waterfront Centre, on the Gulf of Paria, located alongside the port that gives the city its name, has transformed the skyline. It includes two 26-story buildings as well as the country's first five-star hotel--the Hyatt Regency Trinidad--and the largest conference center in the English-speaking Caribbean. With a total price tag of more than US$300 million, not counting finance charges, the project is slated to include retail space and a waterfront promenade. Eventually the complex is expected to serve as a major financial center that will attract international banking institutions and other companies.

Several other high-rises are going up nearby, including a cluster of government office buildings and a parking structure. A new ferry terminal is facilitating transport around the island, and a stretch of the capital's main thoroughfare, Wrightson Road, has been widened. Although the economy has recently begun to slow, construction cranes still soar into the sky around the city. Historic buildings are undergoing renovation, and an elegant National Academy for the Performing Arts is taking shape on the edge of Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain's vast green recreational space.

It all amounts to quite a boom in the last three years for Trinidad and Tobago's capital, the most densely populated metropolitan area and the financial, administrative, and retail hub of this dual-island nation of 1.3 million people. This year Port of Spain get a chance to showcase its new look to the world during two major international events: the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which will bring together 34 heads of state and government from April 17 to 19, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which takes place from November 27 to 29 with the leaders of 54 countries.

"We have much to gain from this intense involvement in global affairs," Manning said in speech last year. "All the main issues on...