Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Having never been to Birmingham, I noticed on Google Earth it appears to have "great bones" in its Downtown area and even a fairly substantial amount of old buildings/areas that can be renovated or redeveloped. In fact, given what it has I was almost surprised to find it not booming like other major-(ish) southern metropolitan areas.
Is Birmingham improving/revitalizing/gentrifying? In what areas? Are old buildings being rehabilitated with new residents and businesses moving in? Where do you see Birmingham in 5 years, 10 years, etc.? What do you think its strengths are, and what do you think holds it back? I.e. with a downtown core like that, why isn't it booming?
Thanks for any insights and details you can provide!
Having never been to Birmingham, I noticed on Google Earth it appears to have "great bones" in its Downtown area and even a fairly substantial amount of old buildings/areas that can be renovated or redeveloped. In fact, given what it has I was almost surprised to find it not booming like other major-(ish) southern metropolitan areas.
Is Birmingham improving/revitalizing/gentrifying? In what areas? Are old buildings being rehabilitated with new residents and businesses moving in? Where do you see Birmingham in 5 years, 10 years, etc.? What do you think its strengths are, and what do you think holds it back? I.e. with a downtown core like that, why isn't it booming?
Thanks for any insights and details you can provide!
I'm sure other posters could provide a much more detailed and nuanced opinion, but yes I would say that Birmingham is revitalizing. You need a lot of history and context to understand how the city got to the point it is and what it will take to make it "boom" in any sense. In a very basic explanation, the Civil Rights era did a lot of harm to the city, especially how people viewed the city. A lot of racist people (many who still live in the suburbs) brought the city to its knees and left it to die in a sense. This obviously impacted business, but the city has also been hit hard by at times being too focused on the steel industry and then too focused on banking. The great recession hit the city hard. One benefit to there being such a great stigma around the city is that a lot of the historical buildings have been preserved. In other cities like Atlanta and Charlotte they tore down a lot of their historical buildings as development sped up.
In my view, the city is starting to be in a much better position. I view the 2010 decade as the one that the city changed a lot of preconceived notions people had, i.e. it changed the narrative. In a way it stopped the bleeding and allowed a lot more people to see that cool things can happen here. I see the next decade not as a boomtown comparable to Nashville or Charlotte, but as starting to grow at a steady pace. A lot of old buildings are being rehabbed, people are interested in moving into the city, UAB is growing like crazy. The city economy is now much more diversified than in the past and I think this will be a big benefit moving forward. We have a long way to go, but I would also argue we have come a long way already. I think a few more white collar businesses moving to the city would really help.
There are a lot of historic buildings that have already been rehabilitated and many more to come. As density increases I think it will bring more with it as well.
There are also a few really big projects that I think will transform a lot of things for the city: 20 / 59 being completed with CityWalk Bham, Protective Stadium, BJCC renovation, Southtown redevelopment, and Powell Steam plant project (I have on good authority this will be going sooner than later).
All of that to say... Birmingham has a complex history. Understanding that will go a long ways towards understanding the cities future.
You're right the old bones are there. There's some really cool/old architecture from the steel days that is currently being or been rehabed into living and play spaces.
Downtown is definitely revitalizing, cleaning up, building, etc. They're making it much more palatable for people to live, eat, play safely.
I'm not sure what the net in/out migration of businesses is though. I know some companies have moved in but I think they're on the small side and they've lost some reputable companies.
So, is it being revitalized? Yes. Is it growing? A little probably, it's hard to tell yet.
Why is it not "booming"? Not a good job environment outside of blue collar opportunities. Healthcare would be probably the most luring industry but still not really ahead of it's larger peers.
Lastly, the reason it's not growing is because of Atlanta and Nashville. Compare the career opportunities, amenities, amount of new people moving in that you can meet and 98.6% of people would rather live there (made up stat). The other 1.4% are members of city-data forum haha Sorry. That won't be taken well.
There's a strong inertia effect for young graduates from a college. They generally want to follow the places with momentum. Where lots of other young grads are moving makes for a super cool social scene. And where that talent goes, jobs and companies often follow. So it's a snowball effect.
But overall, yes Birmingham is definitely changing its vibe and is a very fun city to go "out" in. The bars are manageable and not $20 cover charges tripping over silk-shirt-wearing guys named Chaz that wreak of cheap cologne.
One last thing, many Bham people don't care or want all the growth. They loath Nashville and ATL because they feel out of place, spend more time in traffic, and become havens for "sin". So it's not like people who live in Birmingham are terribly upset that the growth numbers are not staggering. It's mainly parents that are pissed their kids moved.
I'm sure other posters could provide a much more detailed and nuanced opinion, but yes I would say that Birmingham is revitalizing. You need a lot of history and context to understand how the city got to the point it is and what it will take to make it "boom" in any sense. In a very basic explanation, the Civil Rights era did a lot of harm to the city, especially how people viewed the city. A lot of racist people (many who still live in the suburbs) brought the city to its knees and left it to die in a sense. This obviously impacted business, but the city has also been hit hard by at times being too focused on the steel industry and then too focused on banking. The great recession hit the city hard. One benefit to there being such a great stigma around the city is that a lot of the historical buildings have been preserved. In other cities like Atlanta and Charlotte they tore down a lot of their historical buildings as development sped up.
In my view, the city is starting to be in a much better position. I view the 2010 decade as the one that the city changed a lot of preconceived notions people had, i.e. it changed the narrative. In a way it stopped the bleeding and allowed a lot more people to see that cool things can happen here. I see the next decade not as a boomtown comparable to Nashville or Charlotte, but as starting to grow at a steady pace. A lot of old buildings are being rehabbed, people are interested in moving into the city, UAB is growing like crazy. The city economy is now much more diversified than in the past and I think this will be a big benefit moving forward. We have a long way to go, but I would also argue we have come a long way already. I think a few more white collar businesses moving to the city would really help.
There are a lot of historic buildings that have already been rehabilitated and many more to come. As density increases I think it will bring more with it as well.
There are also a few really big projects that I think will transform a lot of things for the city: 20 / 59 being completed with CityWalk Bham, Protective Stadium, BJCC renovation, Southtown redevelopment, and Powell Steam plant project (I have on good authority this will be going sooner than later).
All of that to say... Birmingham has a complex history. Understanding that will go a long ways towards understanding the cities future.
One last thing, many Bham people don't care or want all the growth. They loath Nashville and ATL because they feel out of place, spend more time in traffic, and become havens for "sin". So it's not like people who live in Birmingham are terribly upset that the growth numbers are not staggering. It's mainly parents that are pissed their kids moved.
Clarification: the people who hate that Birmingham's growth is stagnant and less than Huntsville and Mobile are parents who look around and their kids left after graduating from college and they're doing well and happy in other cities with no plans on coming home. Those are the ones who are (should be) most concerned about Bham's lack of forward progress.
There's a huge number of happy people who like Birmingham the way it is and doesn't care to be a bustling big city. There's an ease about living in Birmingham that people tend to like.
My hunch is much of the stagnation should be turning around given all the progress and clean-up that's been going on. We should see a strong uptick in population in the next census.
Right now, it's primarily in-migration from surrounding rural counties but growth always starts there.
Clarification: the people who hate that Birmingham's growth is stagnant and less than Huntsville and Mobile are parents who look around and their kids left after graduating from college and they're doing well and happy in other cities with no plans on coming home. Those are the ones who are (should be) most concerned about Bham's lack of forward progress.
There's a huge number of happy people who like Birmingham the way it is and doesn't care to be a bustling big city. There's an ease about living in Birmingham that people tend to like.
My hunch is much of the stagnation should be turning around given all the progress and clean-up that's been going on. We should see a strong uptick in population in the next census.
Right now, it's primarily in-migration from surrounding rural counties but growth always starts there.
..No sarcasm. Just a comment. Especially since I know who I commented back to. Nothing more..
Birmingham does have great bones, and not just from the old and cool architecture downtown. The natural setting is very beautiful (wooded and hilly), and the climate is nice if you want four seasons with a relatively mild winter and you don't mind summer 90's and humidity. The city is centrally located in the Southeast and an easy drive to Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, the Gulf beaches, and the higher terrain of Tennessee and North Carolina. The downtown area and surroundings have changed dramatically in the past several years, and there are plenty of great restaurants and bars. We also have a young and forward-thinking mayor.
I think Birmingham continues to take steps forward but then gets pushed back for various reasons, often just because of its location in Alabama. Prospective residents may still give Birmingham the side eye because of the bad stats that plague the state, from education to healthcare. Of course, as is the case in most places, these problems don't really touch those with reasonably high incomes. Schools are very good in suburban districts with money, and Birmingham has top notch health care facilities. Nevertheless, the stain of these quality of life lists and backwards mindsets among much of the population likely turn a lot of people off and keep population growth down.
Now that I think about it, I don't think Birmingham has experienced a lot of gentrification yet. There has been a lot of new condo and apartment housing added downtown and in adjacent neighborhoods where not too many people lived as recently as just a few years ago. Probably the most significant gentrification has been in an old neighborhood called Avondale, which is now full of trendy restaurants, brew pubs, etc. and revitalizing housing. It's still a mixed area, though, as just a few blocks north the neighborhood is rough. Some gentrification is also happening in Woodlawn and East Lake, although I think at least some efforts there aim to improve the communities without displacing all of the current residents. Gentrification efforts are also starting in the Norwood community just to the north of downtown. It will be interesting to see what happens in these parts of Birmingham in the coming years.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
haha Sorry. That won't be taken well.
