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thats right. you used to live in minneapolis and dont now so you dont no that first ave has 10 times as many people and ten time as much to do as milwaukee. i have been to water street in downtown milwaukee on a friday and satuday night and it is dead in comparison. i dont no where you get pedestrian free but maybe you should go there on a friday and see how long it takes to drive just a few blocks on first ave. Overhaul of downtown Minneapolis theaters helps drive economic renaissance - Finance & Commerce
There's a whole lot more to downtown than Water Street, AND the criteria takes more into account - READ what it says, don't just react with your bitterness. I'm not saying it's better, but based on the criteria, they thought so.
As far as dead - my niece was there a couple months ago on a Saturday, and she said all she saw were a few homeless people. Daytime counts, too.
Where are they putting all this stuff at? Are they demolishing existing structures to make room? I ask because it seems like DT DC is pretty much packed to the brim with development (Unlike many downtown areas with surface parking to build on) and DC can't build up. So I'm just curious what these projects are and where they are going.
Mt. Vernon Triangle, West End (near George Washington University), Penn Quarter (City Center) just to name a few area's. Downtown D.C. is infilling every vacant property possible right now. There are about 10 buildings just in the last couple months that have announced their conversion to residential units downtown. Another wild card in D.C. is the convergence of neighborhoods happening right now. Downtown D.C.'s height restriction has caused neighborhoods to connect to each other without a visual break unlike every other city in the nation because all the downtown buildings are the same height as the border neighborhoods of downtown. Every new building that goes up makes it harder and harder to place boundaries on downtown. There are no highways or waterways to break the urban fabric and the buildings are all highrise level.
An example of this is Mid City (14th street corridor) which is basically going to be apart of logan circle soon with multi-family high rises stretching all the way to Columbia Heights in about two years which is not an exaggeration. Then you have Shaw (7th street corridor) which will have multi-family high rises going from the convention center clear to Howard University in two years and that is not an exaggeration either. Then you have NOMA and Northwest One which will connect the Judiciary Square Area and the Union Station area all the way North to New York Ave. doubling the size of downtown D.C. essentially. D.C. will never be the same again and as people visit over the next 2-3 years, people will be absolutely shell shocked at the change in built environment. The amount of cranes in the sky right now has surpassed the building boom in 2005-2007 and even more are being lifted in the next two quarters.
D.C. is very different and is an acquired taste because it lacks skyscrapers which is an issue for some. Everything is subjective and people like different things. There is a city out there for everybody and people just need to find out which one suits them.
D.C. is very different and is an acquired taste because it lacks skyscrapers which is an issue for some. Everything is subjective and people like different things. There is a city out there for everybody and people just need to find out which one suits them.
Good stuff... I have no problem with cities that lack skyscrapers. I'll take DC over a Houston or Charlotte any day.
Downtown D.C. is about a year and a half from completely blowing it's former self out the water. Hundreds of thousands of square feet of shopping are under construction in downtown D.C. right now. Thousands of residential units are under construction right now in downtown D.C. This conversation will get very interesting in 2013-2014. The former downtown D.C. will not be recognizable over the next 2-3 years.
Yeah, DC certainly has more construction going on right now than any city above it (except NYC, and even then DC probably kills us in percentage terms). But, the fundementals aren't going to change dramatically in the next few years.
DC's CenterCity development has 185,000 square feet of retail space currently U/C, with another 150,000 planned for the future. Thats pretty good. But not enough to really change the retail scene in DC.
I don't tend to agree with any "publication" that spells Tens with a "z".
I agree that SF is probably above Philadelphia at this point when it comes to being a tourist spot and all of that. The one thing Philadelphia lacks is one of those major, tall hotels in its downtown like other major cities have. Actually, you could include major, tall residential towers in there too, though we're working on that. Center City continues to grow and expand though, and if any of the things in Drexel's 2035 plan happen, Philadelphia will blow every city but NYC out of the water. That's on top of things like the "better-happen-or-I-will-be-pissed" Girard Square and Gallery renovations, any possible skyscrapers that may or may not happen in Center City itself, all of the ridiculous amount of building now and being planned in the future, etc. The biggest things we need, without a doubt, are a major-large hotel, a large residential tower in the most busy area itself, more shopping like you'd find in places like King of Prussia in Center City itself, and of course a major movie theater in Center City, if not multiple ones. This is only including downtown too, not the area around the Sports Complex with Philly Live! (I will never call it XFinity) being built and other places being opened in the area, or anywhere else outside of Center City.
The difference between Philadelphia and really every other city in the list is that there are so many aspects of the city that have yet to come to life or be fully Places like the area around 30th street station and the Delaware River area are a part of Center City but haven't really been "connected" fully yet to the extent that they could be. Then of course there's Market East. In my opinion, only Detroit has as much potential as Philadelphia does.
I have a question for people more familiar with San Francisco than I. Is San Francisco's downtown as good as it is because of the fact that the city is small in area compared to other cities of similar population (and thus I would assume centered around the downtown) or is it another reason?
Yeah, DC certainly has more construction going on right now than any city above it (except NYC, and even then DC probably kills us in percentage terms). But, the fundementals aren't going to change dramatically in the next few years.
DC's CenterCity development has 185,000 square feet of retail space currently U/C, with another 150,000 planned for the future. Thats pretty good. But not enough to really change the retail scene in DC.
DC is a great city, lots of good things happenings. But, its going to take a lot of rebuilding to make it as vibrant as SF or Chicago.
The developer that own the entire F st. frontage from the Verizon Center too the White House has said he plans to turn the entire strip into shopping to join City Center. Also, the Golden Triangle is working to add retail the size of Michigan Ave. From a shopping stand point, downtown D.C. will be very different over the next decade. Also, there are rumors of a Blooming-dales coming to downtown D.C. also. With the population surge in downtown D.C. and surrounding area's, retailers are extremely interested in moving downtown now. It will not be recognizable.
Read it again. You probably misunderstood the whole sentence.
"Situated along both the Chicago River and the Lake Michigan shoreline, the Loop is home to the country’s second-largest financial district, its tallest skyscraper (second tallest after the Freedom Tower in New York is complete), and a distinctive history of innovation and architectural influence. But the Loop does not come second to New York in cleanliness and natural surroundings "
This list is based on size, vibrancy, architecture, businesses, and general aesthetics.
These arbitrary rankings never pass the muster on C-D. We've argued everything on every city so much that we are all little experts on everything from density to vibrancy to business in our downtowns, in fact we should make a ranking ourselves-Im sure it would be better.
Anyway, the author appears to be picking random cities based on his personal preference, not really relying on statistical evidence to weigh each city.
Looking at the overall downtown experience, I would rank them like this(for now):
1 New York
2-tie Chicago
3 San Francisco
4 Boston
5-tie Philadelphia
5-tie Seattle
7 Washington DC
8 Los Angeles
After the top 8 it gets tricky for me as plenty of cities could be 9th or 10th.
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