[Jacksonville Transit]

A nice point.... but I must ask a few questions. Your light rail, assumedly, will serve Amelia Island and Saint Augustine, primarily? On an existing train track? Is that really the path a commuter train needs to travel? Neither community contributes enough workers into Jacksonville proper to neccesitate a commuter train.

Jackonsville is a SMALL metropolitan community. Clearly, those best served by mass transporation would be those in the Southern Duval / St.John's / Clay county suburbs. I agree, the idea of a "high tech bus" is ridiculous. But aside from the very tenuous idea that St. Augustine is a commuter neighborhood of JAX, the needs of these residents simply are not served with a Amelia Island to St. Augustine train.

If it could be conducted very cheaply (less than $100 million) and sustain itself without city subsidies, it might make sense. I find that unlikely. In all reality, it will just be the latest incarnation of the Monorail, a silly mass transportation idea nobody uses for lack of sensible planning.

Perhaps I am a bit jaded, but having lived in absurdly big cities with far worse traffic, I find it a bit entertaining how a city of less than 1 million can seriously look at commuter trains. The idea deserves some study, perhaps, but I find it impracticle. Sadly, I cannot offer a better solution.

Look at this way: The JTA is planning for something that in all likely-hood wouldn't be built until lets say 2012 and completed around 2015. At that point you're talking about more people in a county and that would be about the right time for the proposed system.

[Malls]

what do you mean by untested market?

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There is no outlet mall in Tally.

[Malls]

It's going on the former site of Wings Sports Grill on Capital Circle.

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Good, it'll be great for the football fans that come in on the weekend and the rest of the citizens of Tallahassee.

[Malls]

I completely understand. I've done my homework and I totally agree.

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Hey, folks from Tally can always make a day of it and drive over to Jax if they want to eat at Cheesecake or Changs and do some "upscale" shopping.

[Malls]

Ignoring population, it has that upscale factor, plus a lot of seasonal residents that aren't counted in traditional permanent population counts. There is probably a way to factor in snowbirds and other visitors that stay in Naples that makes it Cheesecake-worthy.

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You're right, the upscale factor as it relates to the abundance of higher income residents that would be able to dine there on a regular basis. This factor probably applies more to Cheesecake more than it does Changs. Although both service a upscale client base. The reason I say that is b/c Changs opened a restaurant in Knoxville, TN and they're going to open one in Little Rock in a month. PF Changs has shown that is it more inclined to expand into such cities and that is why I can see Tally getting one of those in the next 3yrs before they get a Cheesecake.

[Malls]

Unless, the developer plans to kick out several of the better existing tenants (ex. Dillards, Parision, AMC 20, Barnes & Noble), I'd say an outlet mall is out of the question.  Considering recent shopping mall trends, I'd say there's a much better possiblity of it becoming a Hybrid type center, with an outdoor lifestyle center component being added, similar to Bay Walk (name?) at Tampa's new upscale International Plaza Mall.  If that's the case, there's a good chance you'll see restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs added to the mix.

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Do you think that Tally is the right market size for what Changs and the Cheesecake look for? The reason I mention a pop of 500k is b/c I don't believe that any of these restaurants are in areas with less than that. When one of the two malls goes upscale, then we may see Changs enter the market. Is there a big enough market in Tally for Changs or Cheesecake? I'm not sure.

[Malls]

The Gov Square isn't far from being upscale... it just needs new flooring, probably some nicer benches, and a few new quality/designer stores, the Tallahassee Mall, on the other hand, has no where to go but up as far as tenants are concerned. The inside of the mall itself is nice, but the vendors are low class, low quality, and stores are small. I've looked at this new owner's work, and they really know how to turn a mall into a masterpiece.

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Gov's Square has the better selection of stores, so if any mall in Tally goes upscale Gov's Square would be it. As far a cheesecake factory is concerned, I would love to see Tally get one but the metro area probably needs to have a population of at least 500K before that happens. At this point it's more likely that Tally could land a PF Changs in the next 3 years. And the PF Changs would mostly likely go into the Killearn area just as the Bone Fish Grill restaurant b/c that is were the money is.

[Charlotte MLB Team Speculation]

Excluding football, Las Vegas would be the next city in line to get any type of major sports franchise. The pop growth, money and tourist just line everything up perfectly for Vegas. All you have to do is look at baseball in Miami and Tampa and that should tell you how well baseball plays in the South. When you average 13,000 fans a over 81 games for a stadium that holds 35,000, you have a problem. It's the same thing with hockey in the South. When the team is hot you will have packed arenas, but before Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup, you could empty seats for days at the hockey games. Same thing in Miami.

The major league sports have learned to not force expansion as they did in the late and earlier 90s. Otherwise you get teams in metro areas that have the pop to support the team, but could care less about the team. There'll be very little if any expansion in the near future b/c most leagues are fine where they are at. Hell, 2 years ago baseball was wondering if it should get rid of some of the worst performing teams. If you're not a top ten tv market you don't want baseball in your backyard b/c there is no salary cap to make it a even playing field for all. The NFL is the only league that could afford to expand and still have it's popularity and revenue streams intact. Baseball revenuing sharing is non-existant and any further expansion would make it even worse on the "small market" teams. Hockey is a mess and they can't afford to expand either. Basketball is in a better shape to expand, but there aren't that many more markets for the NBA to look at, excluding KC.

Be glad you have two teams in Charlotte. Any more teams and you maybe breaking the bank. Plus with the way MLB and the NHL are now, you don't want a team from either one of those leagues.