modernurbanity

Wow does anyone else totally love the style of the civil rights museum??? I really love the way it's looking.

Hmmm.... I remain unable to quote or edit. My post above was intended to quote with approval krazeeboi's latest post above.

I agree... Some parts of Buckhead will never be urban but the Peachtree corridor and adjacent areas could be. Note I did not say that Buckhead's low-density neighborhoods should be changed. The Beverly Hills-like neighborhoods are a treasure in my opinion.

Seeing the aerial photo of Midtown I was immediately struck by how much it is starting to resemble lower Manhattan. It is truly getting spikier as the towers rise. One of these days I hope to see a streetcar rolling up and down Peachtree from Downtown to Midtown and maybe to Buckhead.

I may be overstating things a bit, but I think the Beltline could be the most exciting thing that ever happened to Atlanta in terms of development. The mammoth scale of it, the futuristic planning, the designs, and the whole purpose of it is almost too wonderful to believe. Gone are the days when Atlanta wasn't desirable. Gone are the days when Atlanta's quality of life was deemed too low to count. The new Atlanta is hip, modern, and visionary. I get a thrill seeing the Beltline thronged with people jogging, walking, skating, and playing. It's working for you because it makes me want to be right in the middle of it.

Wonderful news about downtown. I figured it wouldn't take long for downtown to rebirth. As an urban neighborhood, urban living is a natural attraction to it. I thought the rebirth would come sooner. I remember way back when 123 Luckie was built and they said that it sold out and Kroger opened up nearby. I thought that would be the catalyst but something happened to dampen it. It's now Downtown's time to shine.

I came across this picture of Atlanta accidentally. It is from the early 1970's when the Westin hotel was under construction. Just thought I'd share a look back at old Atlanta. It's interesting to see the building going up and you can also notice Atlanta's San Franciscoish hilly terrain! There is a Manhattanish building canyon forming also. People think San Francisco is the hilliest city in the U.S. but Atlanta can offer it a run for it's money. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6986986?tag=Architecture

Still saying N.C. after Charlotte, huh? People still view it as a small city it seems like. I can't tell you how many times I've heard transplants on Charlotte's local news say that Charlotte is still a small city. I wonder sometimes if it's because of Charlottesville, Va. I've heard people confuse the two before. *Incidentally, does anyone know why I cannot quote anymore? I click the quote button but it doesn't work...

I'm not sure why you think Hampton Roads is bigger when the Raleigh-Durham CSA has reached 2,000,000 and is adding nearly 100,000 people a year. Unless I am wrong (and I can't find the CSA number on census.gov), HR is at 1,700,000 and adding very little. You don't get to decide that one statistic matters and one doesn't. We mustn't split hairs to make one area inferior to another. CSA's are essentially metro areas that have grown as one. People try to use CSA when it makes for bragging rights and MSA when they want to belittle someone. CSA's are the true extent of a city's influence. Raleigh is also much wealthier. It has one of the highest educated populations in the country and RTP gives it one of the highest incomes.

Uh Oh... Plaza Midtown was my favorite complex. I had fantasized of living in that one. I loved the oval shaped buildings and the general look of it was something that appealed to me... Not too sure about how I feel about losing the views now. I did notice they weren't particularly tall so I should have thought about losing a view. I guess I still didn't realize how much more construction & density would come to Midtown. It has been a few years since Plaza Midtown was built. However, looking out at other building sides isn't necessarily a BAD view either... Being surrounded by buildings really makes one feel like you are in an URBAN environment surrounded by humanity which is good too. The other complex that appealed to me was the curved one at Midtown called 1010 I believe.

Am I so wrong to worry about city proper population? It's not that I think it's so vastly important, but it is important when it comes to certain things. A larger city population tends to aid in getting money to pursue projects. Atlanta might get money for rail projects easier and so forth. I guess I am beaten on that sentiment so I will surrender to the prevailing opinion. I certainly didn't mean to suggest that Atlanta couldn't compete with other southern cities. Atlanta has 2 major advantages most of them do not. The Port of Savannah and Hartsfield-Jackson-Campbell-Franklin-Reed Atlanta-Timbuktu International-Intergalactic Airport (Sorry, just a little dig at Atlanta's tendency to stick names on stuff, all in good fun! LOL) I hope to live in Atlanta someday. On a better note, I have something to share here that you all might have seen. The Atlanta Waterworks project is kicking up steam and I think it's wonderful. I want to share this story here so everyone can see the photo. I think this is the most attractive photo of Atlanta I have ever seen. Doesn't that water almost make Atlanta look tropical? It almost looks as if it has a waterfront. Truly lovely. http://atlanta.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/07/reopening-atlanta-waterworks-worth-the-risk.php

Wow, I wasn't aware Trump had backed out of his building until I read this thread. I do hate that, but what I want to see more than any other is SouthEnd turn urban and hip with highrise condo towers and street level retail/restaurant/café type businesses. That would be awesome with the light rail running through it.

Believe me, I am not knocking Atlanta. It is my favorite city. I am so glad to see the revival of the central core. Midtown has a very impressive skyline now and soon we can look up and down Peachtree Street and see a building canyon. I'd still like to see more residential growth downtown and in the city proper in general. The oddity of a metropolitan region of millions being anchored by a city comparable to Tulsa is a bit frustrating. All with Charlotte and Jacksonville rushing toward city proper populations of 1,000,000 and Memphis, Louisville, and Nashville over 600,000. Yes, I know all about consolidations and N.C.'s liberal annexation laws. Let's remember that Philadelphia is the exact same size as Atlanta in land area but has 1,500,000 people. I just wish more growth would come to the city proper. I believe Atlanta's economy and future are assured as the hub of the southeast, but competitors loom. Forget Charlotte, though. The real competitor is Raleigh. Raleigh has posted truly astonishing growth rates for 20+ years. You wouldn't know it by looking at Raleigh's still wimpy skyline, but the amount of growth has been nothing short of incredible. Consider the following facts: Raleigh city proper grew 46% between 2000-2010 from 276,000 to 403,000. Durham expanded by 22% from 187,000 to 228,300. Cary increased by 43% from 94,500 to 135,200 and it's still only a town, not incorporated as a city. Chapel Hill bulged by 17.5% from 48,700 to 57,300. Apex swelled by 85% from 20,200 to 37,500. Wake Forest exploded by 139% from 12,600 to 30,100. Wake county burgeoned by 43.5% from 627,800 to 901,000. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill CSA has rocketed by some 50% from 1,200,000 to 2,000,000 since 2000 and has suffered no slowdown. Why? The same thing that helped Atlanta-education. Like Atlanta, Raleigh's metro has a plethora of excellent schools. Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, NC State, and the others virtually guarantee continuous economic growth. They fuel the massive Research Triangle Park which has become a technological giant. For a long time, Atlanta was the only game in town-but no longer. Of course Atlanta has enormous advantages too. Not least is the fact that it's virtually in the direct center of the southeast. That's why it's the south's rail hub, air travel hub, and distribution hub. Atlanta has seen hard times before. Atlanta's real estate market collapsed in 1991 also. It slowed again in 2001-2002. It recovered stronger than ever. It will this time too. Only this time, competitors are starting to nip at it's heels. Keeping ahead of the game is gonna get tougher.

Yes, Martinman, you would not be incorrect in assuming that. The census bureau often does reverse itself and offer "corrections." The numbers they give aren't always natural increases or decreases. Sometimes they include corrections. That happened to Atlanta repeatedly in the 2000's. Remember when they were jumping it's estimates from 425,000 to 465,000, 470,000, then the astronomical figure of 541,000? The 2009 estimate was showing 540,900! Would've been nice, but it just did not happen. The loss of whole black families by the thousands severely curtailed it's gaining white single population. Let's face it, all those high rise buildings might have hundreds of units, but they were bought mostly by SINGLE people who live in them. At most, each building is only holding a few hundred people. That won't gain you very much when whole blocks are virtually vanishing in other neighborhoods. Having said that, 443,000 is much better. It looks like it will make it to 450,000 by mid-decade at least. I mean for heaven's sake! Now, even RALEIGH and VIRGINIA BEACH are in danger of catching Atlanta proper's population! With Louisville's consolidation with Jefferson County, Atlanta is in danger of being pushed completely out of the top ten largest southern cities list! Let's get those cranes humming again. (As a side note, why is there no discussion going on here about the streetcar, the beltline, Ponce development, city market, city hall east, sports center in Bartow, Alpharetta's mixed use project Avalon, metro Atlanta gaining 10,000 manufacturing jobs since 2010, the relocation of PulteGroup to Atlanta, Porsche's headquarters, and State Farms consolidation in Atlanta, and on and on?)

Hey! That is an AWESOME sight to behold. I remember when Atlanta looked much sparser in it's central core. I can't believe how much it has changed since the Olympics. Now that urban living is back in vogue, the steady densification and eradication of huge surface lots should continue for the foreseeable future. I read recently that Novare plans another high rise in Buckhead. Another project was slated for a 39 story tower beside Phipps Plaza. What incredible growth. Having said that, I was stunned by Atlanta's 2010 census results. I expected it to be FAR higher than 420,000. As much residential construction that went on in the 2000's, I was sure it would approach 500,000. Of course the actual results revealed something few factored in-the rapid decline in the city's black population. I read an estimated 32,000 fled for DeKalb County during the decade. While all those young, white, single professionals were buying all those high rise condos, middle and upper class black families fled for the 'burbs. Who would've guessed this rapid reversal when all you heard for decades was "white flight." I still think the 2010 undercounted my favorite city. The 2012 estimate says 443,000. Seems unlikely that it gained a whopping 23,000 in only 2 years.