Mercedes-Benz could announce HQ relo to Atlanta on Tuesday; focus on Central Perimeter (Dallas: university, airport)

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by jsvh

cwkimbro, Think you are just going to have to stick your brand of rose-colored glasses and I will stick to mine.

I cannot find anywhere that gives more than speculation on Atlanta's metro center of population. However, it is relevant to to note that Georgia's center of population is still closer to Macon than Atlanta.

I studied Geography and demography that I use to do spatial economic research.

I don't have the rose-colored glasses on. I have been studying this for a very long time.

Unlike some here, I don't cheerlead about development OTP vs ITP. My family dates back in this region for a very long time and I love this region and care about all areas equally. I love the happenings intown. I want more development south to keep us from being so lopsided, but I also see and appreciate what happens in our northern suburbs. I'm also looking at things from how they are.

Over half of the metro's population are in the northern suburban counties outside I-285 alone.

There are a bit less than 750,000 people inside I-285 altogether out of a metro of over 5.2 million.


One thing to note about the state center of population. That is something I have never bothered to research, but actually an interesting thing. That isn't really relevant to the growth trends we are discussing in Metro Atlanta, especially analyzing the needs of corporate locations.

What I will say though.... It will definitely fall within Atlanta's MSA borders and closer to the core counties. Over 54% of Georgia's 2010 census population was in the MSA. Over 45% is in the much smaller urban area that is mostly centered on Atlanta's core counties, so I would expect to fall somewhere within Atlanta's urban area boundary or close to it.

But where exactly would be interesting... Might fiddle with that when I have more freetime.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by jsvh

cwkimbro, Think you are just going to have to stick your brand of rose-colored glasses and I will stick to mine.

I cannot find anywhere that gives more than speculation on Atlanta's metro center of population. However, it is relevant to to note that Georgia's center of population is still closer to Macon than Atlanta.

According to Wikipedia, the center of population is in northeast Butts County, north/northwest of Macon. Looks to be almost smack dab at the midpoint of Atlanta and Macon. It is only a few miles from the Henry County line. The link below seems to be from the 2010 census. It is only logical to think that each year it moves incrementally closer to Atlanta.

Meanwhile the geographic center is in Twiggs County southeast of Macon. Thus the pull of Atlanta to move it quite off center, roughly 60 miles off center to the north/northwest, directly toward Atlanta.

http://wikimapia.org/14153266/Georgi...-of-Population

Geographic Center of Georgia

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

According to Wikipedia, the center of population is in northeast Butts County, north/northwest of Macon. Looks to be almost smack dab at the midpoint of Atlanta and Macon. It is only a few miles from the Henry County line. The link below seems to be from the 2010 census. It is only logical to think that each year it moves incrementally closer to Atlanta.

Meanwhile the geographic center is in Twiggs County southeast of Macon. Thus the pull of Atlanta to move it quite off center, roughly 60 miles off center to the north/northwest, directly toward Atlanta.

Georgia's Center of Population

Geographic Center of Georgia

Good find! Georgia's center of population almost has a lake front view!

I also found this once I searched for it: https://explorer.dol.state.ga.us/mis.../popcenter.pdf

It is interesting to see how its moved over time.

In the early part of the decade it almost was in the center of Macon.

[LynnHarris]

Mercedes Benz in talks to lease Perimeter office buildings Sterling Pointe - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[onemanarmy]

Originally Posted by LynnHarris

Mercedes Benz in talks to lease Perimeter office buildings Sterling Pointe - Atlanta Business Chronicle

I feel sorry for anyone who works in that building, traffic is a nightmare there. I use to ride a shuttle from Sterling Pointe to Dunwoody MARTA it was quicker to walk.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

I feel sorry for anyone who works in that building, traffic is a nightmare there. I use to ride a shuttle from Sterling Pointe to Dunwoody MARTA it was quicker to walk.

Small world, onemanarmy! I used to work in that building too, and I often did walk to the Dunwoody Station myself.

On the days I did drive, it could take 30 minutes just to get to the Perimeter from there.

[Wolfpacker]

Originally Posted by Tyler_Jolie-Pitt

Both Raleigh and Charlotte already have daily nonstop service to London, and US Air/American has been adamant that Charlotte will remain a hub... Did you read this somewhere, or is it just a guess?

Words are, well, just words. Delta de-hubbed Memphis. United de-hubbed Cleveland.

Charlotte is not a massive metro area and doesn't have a massive corporate base like an Atlanta, Miami, Washington, Dallas, ect. Charlotte also lacks any real colleges, including a Tier 1 universities (like a Emory, Georgia Tech, ect.)

Lufthansa had feed on both ends with US Airway's Star Alliance hub. Will they still be able to generate enough profitable traffic on feed from and through Munich alone over the long-term?

American is a very hub-centric, less-is-more hubs compared to its competitors. They tend to focus on fewer, bigger hubs in strategic and O&D-rich markets.

Delta flies to Stuggart non-stop from Atlanta. A big plus for MB and Porsche (who also recently relocated their NA HQ to Atlanta as well), which is where their world headquarters are. Atlanta is the only city in the Americas that has a non-stop flight to Stuggart.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Wolfpacker

Words are, well, just words. Delta de-hubbed Memphis. United de-hubbed Cleveland.

Charlotte is not a massive metro area and doesn't have a massive corporate base like an Atlanta, Miami, Washington, Dallas, ect. Charlotte also lacks any real colleges, including a Tier 1 universities (like a Emory, Georgia Tech, ect.)

Lufthansa had feed on both ends with US Airway's Star Alliance hub. Will they still be able to generate enough profitable traffic on feed from and through Munich alone over the long-term?

American is a very hub-centric, less-is-more hubs compared to its competitors. They tend to focus on fewer, bigger hubs in strategic and O&D-rich markets.

Delta flies to Stuggart non-stop from Atlanta. A big plus for MB and Porsche (who also recently relocated their NA HQ to Atlanta as well), which is where their world headquarters are. Atlanta is the only city in the Americas that has a non-stop flight to Stuggart.

Great post, Wolfpacker!

Just an fyi, ties between American/US Airways and Star Alliance are pretty much done. It's all going to be OneWorld now.

[Wolfpacker]

Originally Posted by JMatl

Great post, Wolfpacker!

Just an fyi, ties between American/US Airways and Star Alliance are pretty much done. It's all going to be OneWorld now.

Yep. I don't see American staying long-term at Charlotte (and, I like Charlotte too, visit it often to see family and friends that live there). I see them continuing to shift it's focus and build up it's hub and feed through Miami (Latin America and Caribbean) and New York-JFK.

From this article that's a year old, it does seem like Lufthansa is committed to Munich-Charlotte: Lufthansa: We’re not cutting Charlotte-Munich flight | CharlotteObserver.com

But Atlanta has Delta serving Munich, and if you draw a company like BMW in, it's possible Lufthansa might also serve the Atlanta-Munich route in addition to it's daily route to Frankfurt.

On a side note, is the 2 hr, 40 minute drive from downtown Atlanta to Spartanburg, SC compared to the 1 hr and 20 hr for Charlotte-Spartanburg (according to Google Maps) going to make a big difference if BMW did decide to relocate their NA headquarters to Atlanta or Charlotte?

BTW, yes, I know Charlotte has universities like UNC-Charlotte and Davidson, but they're not those magnet and R&D institutions that attract the cream of the crop and dollars.

[JMatl]

^I'm hearing that American is going to 'right-size' Charlotte, but the hub there isn't going anywhere. It's extremely profitable, and the 'new' AA has already figured it out.

They will be losing some long and thin routes like Rio and certain Euro cities, but they will still be one of AA's largest hubs.