Downtown L.A. is beginning to look more like uptown , and it’s happening much more quickly than even its biggest boosters could have imagined, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A new study of downtown population and job trends, announced Tuesday, reported a more than 20% jump over the last two years in residents, to 28,878.

And with 7,500 units under construction, that number could rise to more than 40,000 by the end of 2008 , rather than by 2015, the previous target for that population milestone.

The study, published by the Los Angeles Downtown Center Business Improvement District, underscores the boom in construction of luxury condos and rehabbed historic lofts around the city center.

But officials hope the number will help downtown boosters in their efforts to lure more retail , which many of the new residents say is lacking.

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