Does Atlanta Have the worst big city downtown in the South? (Nashville: sales, how much)

[bhammaster]

Originally Posted by stuckinsj

I just recently visited Atlanta and thought it was going to be great considering all the good press about Hotlanta and such but i thought the downtown was awful. Pretty dead during the day with not much retail, restaurants or other things going on. Maybe Im just spoiled coming from Philly but man it was a disappointment.

I later talked to people from Atlanta and they said Midtown and Buckhead was really good but i was disappointed in those two areas too. Midtown sorta felt it was built in the 80's/90's and sorta was a cross between a downtown and office park. It didn't really work and there were so few people on the streets. It felt like a ghost town during a weekday. Buckhead felt light a series of strip malls but with rail access. Like King of Prussia back home.

Is there some other urban area that people work/shop/go to because these areas totally didnt cut it for me. I have been to Dallas, Charlotte, Houston, NOLA, and others. I honestly thought that Atlanta had the worst downtown and that Midtown/Buckhead were poor substitutes compared to other places.

Please dont shoot the messenger. I hope its getting better downtown but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to know that Downtown Atlanta is not pulling its weight for such a large and prosperous region.

Half of those cities do not have better urban areas or downtowns. Where you looking for stuff to do or just judging the "urbaness and vibrantnes"?

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Shooting Stars

I LIKE Atlanta, but I agree with the OP. The first time I visited Atlanta's downtown, I came there from Dallas, Texas. I never really thought Dallas had a great downtown, but compared to Atlanta, it's definitely does. Even little Fort Worth has a better downtown. I hate to even say that because I hated living in Dallas and overall prefer Georgia and Atlanta.

Charlotte, North Carolina has a better downtown than Atlanta. That doesn't seem right.

It's not that Atlanta doesn't have plenty to do and see; it's that it's spread out and the central core isn't as highly developed as you'd think it would be.

I know it's gotten better over time, but there's a long way to go.

Having lived the majority of the last 30 years in either one of the two metro areas, I heartily disagree with the comment in bold above.

Fort Worth is in a different class, the kind of downtown of a much smaller city. But in all three cases, the most interesting areas are outside of downtown, Uptown in Dallas, the Museum district in Fort Worth and Midtown/Buckhead/L5P in Atlanta.

[ThreeSides]

Originally Posted by bhammaster

UGH, THANK YOU

PLENTY of large otherwise great cities have awful downtowns. You gotta research first.

List them please. Also lists what makes them awful.

[bhammaster]

Originally Posted by ThreeSides

List them please. Also lists what makes them awful.

Miami

Las Vegas

Houston

Dallas

Detroit

LA

Phoenix

Orlando

Also, what is "awful" is subjective. You explain to me why you think these downtowns are better and more vibrant then Atlanta's since you are attempting making that claim.

[AnsleyPark]

Why do questions on this board always seem to be posted in the negative - "Does Atlanta have the worst..." Why can't we phrase things a bit more positively - "Which city in the Southeast has the best big city downtown?" Just sayin'

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by bhammaster

Miami

Las Vegas

Houston

Dallas

Detroit

LA

Phoenix

Orlando

Also, what is "awful" is subjective. You explain to me why you think these downtowns are better and more vibrant then Atlanta's since you are attempting making that claim.

You need to take LA and Houston off that list. Atlanta has a good downtown for Southern cities but compared to LA & Houston is greatly lacking. At one point LA did have the worst DT in the nation but with the improvements made in the last 10 years DTLA will probably be one of the best in the country easily very soon. In the case of LA, the things to do in DTLA probably surpass things to do in Midtown, & 5 points combined. If you tell me that DTLA is worse than ATL than you havent been to LA in the last 5 years. People also don't understand that LA is way more progressive than ATL when it comes to revitalizing their Downtown, Urbanizing Neighborhoods and hooking it up by rail with the rest of the County.

[arjay57]

I had an out of town visitor recently who was perplexed by our downtown. He wasn't really critical, but he was expecting a much larger contiguous area, with a lot of retail, galleries, etc.

I think we are a bit hampered by not having more broad streets and boulevards downtown.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by jamills21

You need to take LA and Houston off that list. Atlanta has a good downtown for Southern cities but compared to LA & Houston is greatly lacking. At one point LA did have the worst DT in the nation but with the improvements made in the last 10 years DTLA will probably be one of the best in the country easily very soon. In the case of LA, the things to do in DTLA probably surpass things to do in Midtown, & 5 points combined. If you tell me that DTLA is worse than ATL than you havent been to LA in the last 5 years. People also don't understand that LA is way more progressive than ATL when it comes to revitalizing their Downtown, Urbanizing Neighborhoods and hooking it up by rail with the rest of the County.

Houston only has a bunch of skyscrapers. That doesn't make a downtown great. It is definitely less vibrant than Atlanta's downtown. Atlanta's downtown actually has a healthy tourist base and is structurally denser IMHO with it's tighter streets. I was in Houston recently. A whole area of DT Houston is dedicated to surfaces lots.

Atlanta's core is definitely denser than Houston's core. I looked at the census tracts of both cities and Atlanta had many more 10k+ census tracts. You can even go to walkscore and DT Atlanta has a whole 10 points over DT Houston as far as walkability, let alone many more walkable neighborhoods.

I mean, think about it. Our new ferris wheel would not get many people if it didn't have a large tourist base in the downtown area. People really underestimate just how many tourists Atlanta gets.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by jamills21

You need to take LA and Houston off that list. Atlanta has a good downtown for Southern cities but compared to LA & Houston is greatly lacking. At one point LA did have the worst DT in the nation but with the improvements made in the last 10 years DTLA will probably be one of the best in the country easily very soon. In the case of LA, the things to do in DTLA probably surpass things to do in Midtown, & 5 points combined. If you tell me that DTLA is worse than ATL than you havent been to LA in the last 5 years. People also don't understand that LA is way more progressive than ATL when it comes to revitalizing their Downtown, Urbanizing Neighborhoods and hooking it up by rail with the rest of the County.

While I won't disagree that LA has done a great job with revitalizing their Downtown in the last decade, I would say that Downtown Atlanta and Los Angeles are at least equals now. Your point about rail is an odd one given Downtown Atlanta has two subway lines connecting it to the rest of City/Fulton and Dekalb county...and did it 20 years before LA even started.

I am not clear as to why you say DT Houston should taken off that list. It's no where near DT Atlanta in terms of vibrancy/things to do.

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Houston only has a bunch of skyscrapers. That doesn't make a downtown great. It is definitely less vibrant than Atlanta's downtown. Atlanta's downtown actually has a healthy tourist base and is structurally denser IMHO with it's tighter streets. I was in Houston recently. A whole area of DT Houston is dedicated to surfaces lots.

Atlanta's core is definitely denser than Houston's core. I looked at the census tracts of both cities and Atlanta had many more 10k+ census tracts. You can even go to walkscore and DT Atlanta has a whole 10 points over DT Houston as far as walkability, let alone many more walkable neighborhoods.

I mean, think about it. Our new ferris wheel would not get many people if it didn't have a large tourist base in the downtown area. People really underestimate just how many tourists Atlanta gets.

Fine...You guys beat Houston. Not LA tho.