Which city in georgia is making the most progress of becoming a big city after atlanta (Columbus: condos, hotel)

[trentgreen]

No other city but augusta.

[nortonguy]

Athens or even Valdosta would be a better choice instead of Albany. They're growing faster than Albany is.

[EastsideDave]

Well, it depends what you define 'big city' as. No other city in Georgia can even remotely compare with Atlanta, but Augusta is well on it's way to becoming a pretty nice small to medium-sized city.

[nortonguy]

Lol I think the OP answer his own question.

[EastsideDave]

^^ Yeah LOL, and I agree with what you said in your 5:39 post...I think Athens probably should have been in the list, you don't really hear about much going on in Albany, especially when compared with Augusta, Savannah, and other cities.

[nortonguy]

How will downtown look by the end 2010 and into 2011. The library opened about 2 days ago. The judicial center, saint sebastian, emporium condos, 3 story office/commerical building, and maybe the dental school will be completed by the end of 2010. The Tee Center, Kroc Center, Hyatt Place hotel, parking deck on reynolds street, Holiday Inn Express, Broad Mill Village, Broad street new street lights/lamps, Eve street Row, Martha Lester School, Sheriff's Office administration building, and Laney Walker developments will still be under construction in January 2011.

People usually judge the vibe of a city by it's downtown area. That's a total of 7 large(not counting the 3 story office building) new buildings downtown. I didn't count the Holiday Inn or Emporium condos either because they're renovating old buildings.

[nortonguy]

Actually it's 10 large new buildings downtown we know of so far. It could be more if the MCG dorms are broken into multiple buildings. I didn't add the other MCG construction: School of Medicine, Educational Commons, and MCG dorms. The dorms are going to start construction sometime this year. The MCG sign is already up infront of the property. The other two are supposed to break ground in 2011.

[midgeorgiaman]

I vote for none of the above. There is Atlanta and everyone else. No other city in GA will reach the level of "big city" in our lifetimes. By big, I mean pro sports teams, global recognition, multiple Fortune 500 companies based there (for comparison, Atlanta has 11 of them), etc.

It just is. I think all of the mid-size cities have more in common than they have differences, but here is my take. I am not from GA, so I feel as if I am impartial.

Augusta is the largest with the largest population and the additional amenities that come with that. Savannah is by far the neatest and most historical and culturally vibrant of the 2nd cities and has one thing that the others will never have--proximity to the coast and that will always fuel growth. Macon and Columbus in my opinion have the best locations to enjoy big city amenities by being closer to Atlanta without being in Atlanta (mid-size town with a very short drive to big city amenities compared with Augusta and especially Savannah).

Albany, well, people outside of GA think NY. Valdosta...on its way, but cannot compare to the above cities yet. Athens...college town, thus in its own category and has more in common with State College, PA and Charlottesville, VA than any other city in GA.

Just my 2 cents. I do think the "competition" on this board between the fall line cities and Savannah is hilarious. Makes for good reading!

[lab4life]

There will never be a large enough job market outside of Atlanta to even remotely compete with big city status. Maybe in 200 years, but not in our lifetime. I know the rest of GA (especially here in AUG) wants to think they're bigger/greater than they really are.

[EastsideDave]

Like I said above, if by 'big city' you mean 'small (maybe medium) sized city', then yes, Augusta is making progress and is doing pretty good. No other city in GA (and very few other cities in the South East) can compare with Atlanta, I don't know why people insist on bringing up these comparisons. Heck, the so-called '2nd cities' are so different that it's almost impossible to compare them with each other, let alone Atlanta; that's why I try my darndest to keep away from the city vs. city threads.