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I just don't get how you can compare a single suburban county in Atlanta to a large city like Jacksonville.
-Jacksonville has significant water recreational amenities, including the St. John's River, a long riverwalk promenade, a water taxi, and MOST IMPORTANTLY OCEAN BEACHES!!!
Can Gwinnett compete with that?
-Jacksonville has within its city limits:
-JAX airport
-a downtown PeopleMover system
-an NFL Team and large football stadium the hosts the world's largest cocktail party and the Gator Bowl
-Zoo
- Several shopping malls, including an upscale lifestyle center called St. Johns Town Center, and a downtown mall (that is somewhat depressed admittedly)
- Urban districts like San Marco & Riverside which have multiple walkable corridors
- Adjacent cute Beach Towns, one with a cute downtown just off of the ocean
-Jacksonville State University and University of North Florida
-Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum, and Museum of Science and History
-A large, big city downtown with substantial skyline, major employers like Wells Fargo, Prudential, and Bank of America & the HQ for Stein Mart
-every national chain store and restaurant that Gwinnett has
-JAX has a 46,000 acre nature preserve
-Largest public library in Florida
-Concerning demographics - 55% Non-hispanic white, 30% black, 8% Latino, 4% Asian
Agreed.
I lived in Gwinnett for a short while and even the cities within the county seemed like every other small city. I had to meet some people out in Duluth a few months ago and was pleasantly surprised with the development near its downtown. Gwinnett doesn't have nearly as many attractions as the individual cities in the poll. Gwinnett has a great park system and diversity but I'm not sure that is enough to propel it over cities with a better sense of place.
I just don't get how you can compare a single suburban county in Atlanta to a large city like Jacksonville.
-Jacksonville has significant water recreational amenities, including the St. John's River, a long riverwalk promenade, a water taxi, and MOST IMPORTANTLY OCEAN BEACHES!!!
Can Gwinnett compete with that?
-Jacksonville has within its city limits:
-JAX airport
-a downtown PeopleMover system
-an NFL Team and large football stadium the hosts the world's largest cocktail party and the Gator Bowl
-Zoo
- Several shopping malls, including an upscale lifestyle center called St. Johns Town Center, and a downtown mall (that is somewhat depressed admittedly)
- Urban districts like San Marco & Riverside which have multiple walkable corridors
- Adjacent cute Beach Towns, one with a cute downtown just off of the ocean
-Jacksonville State University and University of North Florida
-Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum, and Museum of Science and History
-A large, big city downtown with substantial skyline, major employers like Wells Fargo, Prudential, and Bank of America & the HQ for Stein Mart
-every national chain store and restaurant that Gwinnett has
-JAX has a 46,000 acre nature preserve
-Largest public library in Florida
-Concerning demographics - 55% Non-hispanic white, 30% black, 8% Latino, 4% Asian
I’ll grant you the water activities and pro team, but as far as downtown, Jacksonville has an ok downtown, but Gwinnet has a more populated feel throughout the area. Even going of city limits, Gwinnet packs in 920k in 420 square miles while Jax packs 800k in like 800 square miles.
I’m not necessarily arguing either one blows the other out of the water, just interesting compare. Gwinnet is a huge diverse county so it is no way disrespectful to compare it to Jax.
I’ll grant you the water activities and pro team, but as far as downtown, Jacksonville has an ok downtown, but Gwinnet has a more populated feel throughout the area. Even going of city limits, Gwinnet packs in 920k in 420 square miles while Jax packs 800k in like 800 square miles.
I’m not necessarily arguing either one blows the other out of the water, just interesting compare. Gwinnet is a huge diverse county so it is no way disrespectful to compare it to Jax.
I provided many specific places and amenities to substantiate my contention. You have not provided a ONE specific thing that Gwinnett has. Can you elaborate...since you started this thread
I provided many specific places and amenities to substantiate my contention. You have not provided a ONE specific thing that Gwinnett has. Can you elaborate...since you started this thread
You picked a lot of things that are pretty intrinsic to CBDs, so some things I overlooked because that wasn’t exactly what I was asking to be compared here. But I guess skyline adds to city feel, so that makes sense. We do have suburban skylines that compete with Jax like perimeter though.
Keep in mind, my motivations of this was going off the feel current day Gwinnet.
Major Shopping: Mall of Georgia, shoppe at web ginn, sugarloaf mills and some others in Peachtree Corners. Gwinnet has 3 H&Ms, Jax probably has 1 or 2.
Restaraunts: Frankie’s steakhouse, Kurt’s bistro, Sperata, Blaxican (which is a soul food Mexican fusion that went viral on social media last year), Mexican seafood spots like Los Costas Nayaritas, and some of the best Korean food in the nation.
Diversity: a testament to the food culture in Gwinnet is the diverse population, the most diverse in the southeast, and competing nationally as far as diverse counties:
Nightlife: Miami Lounge one of the hottest lounges in the Atlanta area, the embassy cigar which is one of the nicest cigar lounges in the entire metro, utopia bar, and full lost of others.
As far as transit, eh. Gwinnett has a mediocre bus system, but it connects to a heavy rail transit at doraville station. And that alone would probably give it the leg up on that sky-transit line in Jax.
These are all things I’m pulling off the top of my head by having been to both areas
As far as education, UNF has Gwinnet college beat. But I did forget about Lake Lanier, it’s partly in Gwinnet, and considered a recreational activity there. Not better than the beach towns, but no slouch.
Driving around Gwinnet earlier, realized this place has blossomed and feels self-contained. How does it rank amongst these areas (see poll).
Quote:
Originally Posted by meep
Most of the listed metros aren’t super urban. And when you compare the overall of these metros to Gwinnet, not just a slither of centralized urbanity, Gwinnet probably beats most of them out in density. That aside, it’s just comparison of overall offerings.
And I wouldn’t call Gwinnet any suburban county USA. Jimmy Carter in Norcross, while mostly strip malls, has an international flair to it. There are other areas throughout Gwinnet that feel this way as well. Having that mishmash of cultures is always going to give a different feel, Gwinnet even feels more “international” than the city of Atlanta in some ways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meep
I’ll grant you the water activities and pro team, but as far as downtown, Jacksonville has an ok downtown, but Gwinnet has a more populated feel throughout the area. Even going of city limits, Gwinnet packs in 920k in 420 square miles while Jax packs 800k in like 800 square miles.
I’m not necessarily arguing either one blows the other out of the water, just interesting compare. Gwinnet is a huge diverse county so it is no way disrespectful to compare it to Jax.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meep
You picked a lot of things that are pretty intrinsic to CBDs, so some things I overlooked because that wasn’t exactly what I was asking to be compared here. But I guess skyline adds to city feel, so that makes sense. We do have suburban skylines that compete with Jax like perimeter though.
Keep in mind, my motivations of this was going off the feel current day Gwinnet.
Diversity: a testament to the food culture in Gwinnet is the diverse population, the most diverse in the southeast, and competing nationally as far as diverse counties:
As far as education, UNF has Gwinnet college beat. But I did forget about Lake Lanier, it’s partly in Gwinnet, and considered a recreational activity there. Not better than the beach towns, but no slouch.
You seem to be a big fan of Gwinnett County, yet you keep misspelling it. Have you actually ever been there? It's Gwinnett, not Gwinnet.
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