Branson/Springfield

[tim2462]

I understand what you're saying, but honestly I would appreciate those places in Springfield and take my son to them just the same as I appreciate the family attractions we have here in NWA and do take my son to them every chance I get. It would just be nice to have something here for families that is as fun as those places in all of our neighboring metros. The simple truth is we don't. It doesn't mean I want to live there... I don't want to give up what I do have in NWA. Just write it off as envy.

Ummm... Enjoy Springfield, but I'm all booked up next weekend, but thanks for the offer.

Raincheck? LOL

[masons_dad1]

Raincheck? LOL

[Mith242]

lol... I was being sarcastic. But it was in good humor, not "just plain old immaturity." Unless humor and immaturity are related.

Ah yes I remember that good ol' sarcasm of Johnny's back in the old days of the Arkansas Forum.

[slyder1]

Aporkalypse asked for the link on the info I posted about Springfield's economic enfluence:

http://www.ozarkspartnership.com/regional_..._to_the_ozarks/

My Webpage

[slyder1]

I don't think that I have talked alot about all the new stores going up all over downtown. There are some very cool, very upscale, and very exspensive shops downtown that some of you who visit should check out.

The Prima Donna is an upscale womens clothing store started by a women that moved here from New York and has a limousine escort service for her most valued customers.

Staxx is about everything urban and has a large selection of many fine clother's.

Shae Belle is and upscal urban fashion boutique that woud suit the needs of anyone urban.

Check out this website www.godowntown4.com for more info on downtown shops and entertainment.

[slyder1]

Ohhh, I forgot to post this wedding dress place downtown called Ella Weiss Wedding Design After becoming a designer specialist for Neiman Marcus, Stephanie, the owner, worked closely with Amsale, a couture wedding dress line. Stephanie traveled to New York City each season and met with the Neiman buyer to choose the gowns that best fit the St. Louis target market. This store is about as upscale as they come. I was shocked to find out that she worked for Neiman Marcus which is cool because I'm sure she still has those ties too which brings some very upscale designer clothe's to Springfield.

[slyder1]

Here is a rendering of the Hilton Hotel and Convention Center at Branson Landing. Although there are much better renderings I couldn't put them on the website.

P.S.... Did anyone see the Branson Meadows Development on page 15.......what do you think.

[Aporkalypse]

Aporkalypse asked for the link on the info I posted about Springfield's economic enfluence:

http://www.ozarkspartnership.com/regional_..._to_the_ozarks/

My Webpage

I don't think that 10 county area with 935,000 people is justifiable, I tend to use MSA numbers which show NWA and Springfield identical at 391k and LR with 635k. Neither NWA nor Springfield gets a CSA according to the census but LR's is only 815k.

[masons_dad1]

I don't think that I have talked alot about all the new stores going up all over downtown. There are some very cool, very upscale, and very exspensive shops downtown that some of you who visit should check out.

The Prima Donna is an upscale womens clothing store started by a women that moved here from New York and has a limousine escort service for her most valued customers.

Staxx is about everything urban and has a large selection of many fine clother's.

Shae Belle is and upscal urban fashion boutique that woud suit the needs of anyone urban.

Check out this website www.godowntown4.com for more info on downtown shops and entertainment.

How many websites does Springfield have? This is the second Downtown website I've seen. There are a lot of big downtown development projects in Springfield although I must say they don't have to worry much about cleaning up past mistakes as Springfield is already a very clean and smartly developed city... especially downtown.

Springfield definitely has NWA beat as far as being more urban... I doubt there's a Hip Hop store anywhere in NWA, but I may be wrong. Is Hip Hop lifestyle pretty big up there? Is there what might be called an "Urban" radio station that plays nothing but Hip Hop music?

[masons_dad1]

Here is a rendering of the Hilton Hotel and Convention Center at Branson Landing. Although there are much better renderings I couldn't put them on the website.

P.S.... Did anyone see the Branson Meadows Development on page 15.......what do you think.

That's nice... I actually just checked out the renderings of Branson Landing and man is this going to be one of the "top 10 outdoor shopping venues in America"!

BTW... what page 15 are you referring to?

[Mith242]

Springfield definitely has NWA beat as far as being more urban... I doubt there's a Hip Hop store anywhere in NWA, but I may be wrong. Is Hip Hop lifestyle pretty big up there? Is there what might be called an "Urban" radio station that plays nothing but Hip Hop music?

I'm pretty sure Fayetteville has at least one if not more.

[masons_dad1]

I'm pretty sure Fayetteville has at least one if not more.

Does Fayetteville have a downtown directory with all these stores listed anywhere? It sure would make shopping downtown Fayetteville easier. I really like Springfield's downtown website that lists all the downtown merchants... Fayetteville really would do well to have a similar website.

Any idea whether Fayetteville has a full-time Hip Hop radio station? A couple years ago I read an article saying there still wasn't one in NWA.

[mcheiss]

Any idea whether Fayetteville has a full-time Hip Hop radio station? A couple years ago I read an article saying there still wasn't one in NWA.

No, Fayetteville and neither NWA have a Hip Hop Radio Station, or an R&B radio station. We do have a new Rock radio station that is pretty nice. I'm still hoping for a Dance Station, but I may have to wait until NWA reaches 1.5 Million.

[masons_dad1]

No, Fayetteville and neither NWA have a Hip Hop Radio Station, or an R&B radio station. We do have a new Rock radio station that is pretty nice. I'm still hoping for a Dance Station, but I may have to wait until NWA reaches 1.5 Million.

I hear ya. I was saying before how Dallas has a dance station in Reunion Tower that sequences the lights on the tower to the music. It really cool when your driving by the tower and listening to the station.

[slyder1]

How many websites does Springfield have? This is the second Downtown website I've seen.

Springfield in General has tons of webstites about the city but downtown has about 3 or 4 dedicated websites.

Downtown Websites:

www.itsalldowntown.com: this website is actually being re-vamped but it still gives you a good amount of news for the downtown area.

www.godowntown4.com: this website is ok and gives you an idea of what downtown offers but still needs to be updated.

www.ddec.net: this site is good about the nightlife.

www.heerstower.com: Heers Tower redevelopment and downtown.

Springfield Websites:

http://www.ci.springfield.mo.us/: Official Springfield, MO site.

http://www.springfieldmo.org/final/: This website is great and is for visitors. Mason's you should check this site out before coming.

http://springfield.missouri.org/: about Springfield living, schools...

http://www.springfieldchamber.com/: Springfield Chamber of Commerce

Other sites that might be to your interest:

http://sps.k12.mo.us/: Springfiled Public Schools

My Webpage: Springfield Library Board

http://www.greenecountymo.org/web/: Gov. stuff

[tim2462]

I don't think that 10 county area with 935,000 people is justifiable, I tend to use MSA numbers which show NWA and Springfield identical at 391k and LR with 635k. Neither NWA nor Springfield gets a CSA according to the census but LR's is only 815k.

Newest estimates have Springfield at 398,000 and NWA at 407,000.

However, that does not count the special census counts.

[slyder1]

2005 Official Approx. estimates:

Springfield: 398,124

NWA: 405,101

[tim2462]

2005 Official Approx. estimates:

Springfield: 398,124

NWA: 405,101

Yeah, you're right. That's what I posted before. I guess I was thinking there was 7,000 between them when I put 407,000.

[tim2462]

There have already been a special census or two completed, with more on the way. So, the official number will probably end up being around 425,000, maybe more for NWA for the end of 2005, beginning of 2006.

I don't think Springfield has any special census plans. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[masons_dad1]

I don't know what the big deal about the population difference is between NWA and Springfield anyway. It's not like there's that much of a difference. Okay so the NWA MSA is bigger than the Springfield MSA. NWA's MSA is made up of 3 major cities of around 50,000 people and Springfield's MSA is made up of 1 major city of around 150,000 people. There really isn't much else around Springfield as far as population centers, but NWA has a lot of population centers all over the metro ranging from a few thousand to around 25,000. So what does that say about NWA? It's more spread out over an area of the country that's more populated and doesn't have a single city of over 100,000 people. What's that say about Springfield? It's more centrally located around 1 major city of over 100,000 people in an area of the country that's more sparsely populated.

They are statistically similar metros, but in reality they're totally different and not even comparable to each other other than numbers... a bunch of useless numbers that mean squat.

[tim2462]

I don't know what the big deal about the population difference is between NWA and Springfield anyway. It's not like there's that much of a difference. Okay so the NWA MSA is bigger than the Springfield MSA. NWA's MSA is made up of 3 major cities of around 50,000 people and Springfield's MSA is made up of 1 major city of around 150,000 people. There really isn't much else around Springfield as far as population centers, but NWA has a lot of population centers all over the metro ranging from a few thousand to around 25,000. So what does that say about NWA? It's more spread out over an area of the country that's more populated and doesn't have a single city of over 100,000 people. What's that say about Springfield? It's more centrally located around 1 major city of over 100,000 people in an area of the country that's more sparsely populated.

They are statistically similar metros, but in reality they're totally different and not even comparable to each other other than numbers... a bunch of useless numbers that mean squat.

Actually, they're quite comparable. You'll see that once you visit there.

Being centrally located is what doesn't mean squat. It may sound good, but

doesn't mean anything. In time, NWA has the potential for 3 cities to be 100,000+ in coming years, and eventually 4 that will most likely be 100,000+ One of them, if not all of them, has the potential to eventually be 200,000+ My guess would be Fayetteville, but it could be Springdale or Rogers.

Springfield will always be the only city in that metro of that size.

Springfield is only 70 sq. miles. That gives it a bit more density, but not much. It also gives you small city landwise, not much room for new development.

Fayetteville and Springdale together = about 85 sq. miles. Then you have the other core cities.

So, don't tell me they are just numbers that mean squat. NWA has way more potential.

You said 3 core cities of around 50,000...you should know that:

Fayetteville is estimated to be over 70,000...the special census is coming soon.

Springdale is around 63,000 says the special census recently completed.

Rogers is estimated to be around 50-55,000.

Bentonville is estimated to be around 40,000.

So, that's a little more impressive than you give it credit for.

[Mith242]

Hey slyder1, what's the topography like around Springfield and Branson. I seem to recall Springfield being rather flat. But it's been a while since I've been up there. I've only been to Branson once so I don't recall how hilly it might have been. I know Springfield obviously lies on the Springfield Plateau. Does Branson also or is it on another something else? Here in the Arkansas Ozarks we mainly have three features, the Boston Mtns, the Springfield Plateau and the Salem Plateau. I think there are some other smaller features, but you almost never hear about any of them.

[Mith242]

Here's a link to a MSNBC.com article talking about Branson. It focuses a lot on the Titanic Museum but also talks about other aspects of the town.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12071745/

[masons_dad1]

The problem with 3 or 4 cities making up an equal portion of the population is each city does it's own thing as we see here in NWA. I could see many problems with fighting over everything from sports to water parks. There's also more potential for populations to sway between the cities when they're all about the same. So, one city may end up falling behind the other which reflects more on the metro as a whole.

Also it's going to be quite a few years for any NWA cities to reach 100,000 since like you said they're all growing about the same rate. Springfield has greater potential of being the first city in the reqion to reach 200,000... since it's already over 150,000 and the biggest city in NWA is, like you said, around 70,000.

I was rounding to the nearest 50,000. Where did you hear Bentonville is near 40,000? It was estimated to be around 27,000 in 2004.

[tim2462]

The problem with 3 or 4 cities making up an equal portion of the population is each city does it's own thing as we see here in NWA. I could see many problems with fighting over everything from sports to water parks. There's also more potential for populations to sway between the cities when they're all about the same. So, one city may end up falling behind the other which reflects more on the metro as a whole.

Also it's going to be quite a few years for any NWA cities to reach 100,000 since like you said they're all growing about the same rate. Springfield has greater potential of being the first city in the reqion to reach 200,000... since it's already over 150,000 and the biggest city in NWA is, like you said, around 70,000.

I was rounding to the nearest 50,000. Where did you hear Bentonville is near 40,000? It was estimated to be around 27,000 in 2004.

First of all, I doubt Springfield will ever reach much higher than what it is now. If you will look at the numbers, Springfield actually lost about 1,000 residents from the last census to the 2004 estimate. It'll be interesting to see what it was for 2005. People are moving out of Springfield and into nearby cities. That's another unfortunate thing for Springfield only being 70 sq. miles, it's not all that big and people will continue to fight it getting more dense, just as they do in NWA. Springfield as a city is shrinking, not growing.

As far as Bentonville, it was near 28,000 in 2004...it's two years later and the estimates for the area are always off due to the high growth. So, they're thinking the special census will be close to 40,000.

By the way, competition between cities bring greater developments. Competitiion is always good. I also don't think we have to worry about any of the cities "falling behind" anytime soon. They're all growing at healthy rates. There will be a lot more developments between these core cities, than the one core city of Springfield.