Georgia's next major city? (Atlanta, Columbus: hotel, houses, layoffs)

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I really wish Atlanta's growth had been more spread across the state and that the second tier cities would have grown more and Atlanta less and that Georgia looked more like North Carolina where Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem/Greensboro are much larger than any of the second cities in Gerogia.

However, I don't think any of the second cities will be able to pull much growth away from Atlanta. Columbus with several headquarters and Fort Benning and Savannah with the port would seem natural choices, but so far the explosive growth happening in other parts of the south haven't hit there, nor Augusta or Macon. Steady, slow growth, but nothing on the lines of the North Carolina cities, Nashville, Orlando, etc.

Atlanta will continue to be the growth center for Georgia at the rest of the state's expense. Don't necessarily think that is best, just what is.

I totally agree. Georgia is not well balanced. Columbus will hold its own for HQ's and Ft. Benning's expansion and Savannah will do well due to the port and tourism. Atlanta dominates wayyy too much.

[powerplay]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I really wish Atlanta's growth had been more spread across the state and that the second tier cities would have grown more and Atlanta less and that Georgia looked more like North Carolina where Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem/Greensboro are much larger than any of the second cities in Gerogia.

However, I don't think any of the second cities will be able to pull much growth away from Atlanta. Columbus with several headquarters and Fort Benning and Savannah with the port would seem natural choices, but so far the explosive growth happening in other parts of the south haven't hit there, nor Augusta or Macon. Steady, slow growth, but nothing on the lines of the North Carolina cities, Nashville, Orlando, etc.

Atlanta will continue to be the growth center for Georgia at the rest of the state's expense. Don't necessarily think that is best, just what is.

Good post.
Columbus has never been suited for much economic growth even from Atlanta.
If you look at the cities track record since mid 70's it has actually lost ground.
I hear the same poster talking over and over about Ft Benning and this and that but never ALL the businesses that have left town(and there have been PLENTY).

I know several out of town companies who have tried to set up shop there and say it is was always too slow and tedious and the ones that have located(retail,eateries etc) have always complained at commerce meetings that their stores locally are always near the bottom of their profit sheets....strange

[ATLCOL1]

Columbus is doing well recruiting new industry at this time. Cessna is expanding, a supplier for Kia is setting up shop here, Aflac continues to expand, etc. The Ft. Benning expansion is bringing tens of thousands of new residents over the next 2-3 years. I just rented a house to a family who moved to Columbus from Savannah. Future looks good for Columbus.

Retail is still coming along as well. Just saw the site plan yesterday for Ben Carter's expansion at Columbus Park. Also, Woodruff plans to begin their new PUD development behind Columbus Park this coming Spring. Developers are trying to time things so that is the reason things have slowed. Columbus is looking bright.

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

I totally agree. Georgia is not well balanced. Columbus will hold its own for HQ's and Ft. Benning's expansion and Savannah will do well due to the port and tourism. Atlanta dominates wayyy too much.

The only thing that will bring any of Georgia's other cities to a level of Nashville or Charlotte is industry, industry, and more industry. It's not going to happen from military bases, tourism or even ports alone won't do it. You have to have city leaders that are determined to bring as much industry as possible to the city.

It's sad to me that when I lived in Ohio little Toledo (only the 5th largest metro in Ohio) with a pop. (at the time) of 360,000 and metro pop. 600,000 dwarfs any of Georgia's cities outside of Atlanta.

But there's history behind how that came to be. Toledo, although small by Midwest standards today, historically always had leaders that had huge plans and thrived to make it more. Originally they fought to make it's port the leading one on the great lakes. That fell threw as Chicago claimed that spot. They thrived to make it a leading oil refining center but oil supplies dried up. But all was not a loss as later oil would be pumped there from Oklahoma to be refined and loaded on ships and there are still two oil refineries there today. Also, abandoned refineries were converted into glass furnaces and today Toledo is the leading producer of glass products in America.

In the 1890's it looked like the bicycle would be the leading mode of urban transportation in the future and Toledo jumped on this trend to try and become the biggest manufacturer. That too didn't pan out but it left Toledo with plenty of machine shops that would be used to produce auto parts for nearby Detroit in the future.

My point is you have to continuously try to be capable of doing more. Savannah has always had great potential with it's port but historically had leaders that were anti urban and anti industry (like much of Georgia only respected agriculture). And if you don't believe me when I say a thriving port won't get you there if you don't take advantage of it to create more industry then how's this for a fact. Plaquemines, LA, Valdez, AK, and Beaumont, TX all have busier ports than Chicago or Los Angeles and alot of other major cities.

And to Columbus, no city has ever achieved greatness off of military bases alone. And to Augusta, tourism alone isn't likely to get you there unless you have truly awesome beaches or a gambling strip to rival Vegas or atleast Atlantic City.

Here's one suggestion.
1.) Try and build a really large engineering college with research facilities and the whole nine.

IT is totally unacceptable that in a state the size of Georgia the only major engineering school is Georgia Tech. Graduates of engineering schools created Douglas and Northrop aircraft, Apple computer, and more other companies than I could name as well as lead existing companies to greatness.

[powerplay]

Recent post on Columbus school board blog.....


Columbus is an extreme case of Good old boy system and Nepotism. It is a city run by a small group of elitists and churches. If you are connected then you will be fine but if not then you will have a hard time. Prices are relatively high compared to wages, schools are below average with 21 of the 35 schools considered failing or close to failing. There is a serious racial divided in the city which is highly instigated by politicians on both sides and the churches. It have extremely corrupt politics and business organizations, and success is most often determined to who you know. The University here is a joke and really is just a art and music school that has some other programs. The taxes here are corrupt and if you buy a home you will pay one of the highest rates in the entire southeast while grandfathered and politically connected ones pay extremely low rates. There are 18,000 homes of the 60,000 here that pay less than $50 a year in property tax but you wont qualify for that, and it has nothing to do with income or affordability. The school board runs amuck with corruption with the second highest paid superintendent in the state (over $300,000 a year FOR A PART TIME JOB)contracts are awarded based on nepotism, and they are building a $50 Millon dollar school board admin building while thousands of kids are in portable buildings or without text books, not to mention a $20 million library both projects were not needed and joint venture were available with federal and state projects but the city government refused since it would have to comply with open records and accounting procedures of the Feds and state, and contract awarding rules. City officials, family and friends conveniently buy land before the city does and then jack up the price which the city pays. The city just government just raised sales taxes and property taxes (not on the grandfathered elite) to help fund their crazy projects, traffic and infrastructure is insane at best, crime is high and rising unemployment is at 7% and the power brokers here actively keep out new capital, investors, and high end industry to maintain their control.

I would suggest otherwise, if at all possible If you want to stay in Georgia, than Gwinet County, Cobb County or the Newnan/Peachtree City areas are far nicer and better opportunity than here.

Another......

This is the best and most truthful description I have ever read about Columbus, GA. Don't come here if you do not have strong ties to this community already. School system is absolutely worthless. Housing prices are overinflated and the new housing are cheaply built..worst contractors I have ever seen. Major crooks. They keep housing...this includes rentals...high because of Fort Benning. And after the news that the government was sending something like 5000 new military families to Fort Benning, the town started building a massive number of houses which they say will remain highly priced because the soldiers will pay any price for the houses. But this houses are so cheaply made and quickly built it is a shame. People have been in their brand new homes for two years and having major plumbing and roofing issues.


The truth hurts.........

[powerplay]

Originally Posted by Galounger

The only thing that will bring any of Georgia's other cities to a level of Nashville or Charlotte is industry, industry, and more industry. It's not going to happen from military bases, tourism or even ports alone won't do it. You have to have city leaders that are determined to bring as much industry as possible to the city.

It's sad to me that when I lived in Ohio little Toledo (only the 5th largest metro in Ohio) with a pop. (at the time) of 360,000 and metro pop. 600,000 dwarfs any of Georgia's cities outside of Atlanta.

But there's history behind how that came to be. Toledo, although small by Midwest standards today, historically always had leaders that had huge plans and thrived to make it more. Originally they fought to make it's port the leading one on the great lakes. That fell threw as Chicago claimed that spot. They thrived to make it a leading oil refining center but oil supplies dried up. But all was not a loss as later oil would be pumped there from Oklahoma to be refined and loaded on ships and there are still two oil refineries there today. Also, abandoned refineries were converted into glass furnaces and today Toledo is the leading producer of glass products in America.

In the 1890's it looked like the bicycle would be the leading mode of urban transportation in the future and Toledo jumped on this trend to try and become the biggest manufacturer. That too didn't pan out but it left Toledo with plenty of machine shops that would be used to produce auto parts for nearby Detroit in the future.

My point is you have to continuously try to be capable of doing more. Savannah has always had great potential with it's port but historically had leaders that were anti urban and anti industry (like much of Georgia only respected agriculture). And if you don't believe me when I say a thriving port won't get you there if you don't take advantage of it to create more industry then how's this for a fact. Plaquemines, LA, Valdez, AK, and Beaumont, TX all have busier ports than Chicago or Los Angeles and alot of other major cities.

And to Columbus, no city has ever achieved greatness off of military bases alone. And to Augusta, tourism alone isn't likely to get you there unless you have truly awesome beaches or a gambling strip to rival Vegas or atleast Atlantic City.

Here's one suggestion.
1.) Try and build a really large engineering college with research facilities and the whole nine.

IT is totally unacceptable that in a state the size of Georgia the only major engineering school is Georgia Tech. Graduates of engineering schools created Douglas and Northrop aircraft, Apple computer, and more other companies than I could name as well as lead existing companies to greatness.

I agree with Columbus comment....Ft Benning is an old dead issue
Most soldiers and their families have everything brand new on base and MUCH CHEAPER.

Pratt and Whitney just let 10 percent of their local work force go last Friday....this is growth?


When German gunmaker Heckler & Koch showed up in Columbus more than two years ago, it had big plans for becoming one of the city's major local companies.
On the drawing board was a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, a $25 million capital investment and at least 200 high-paying jobs -- maybe more. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue even visited Columbus to attend a groundbreaking at Muscogee Technology Park, the industrial area off Macon Road where H&K was supposed to construct its large facility.
But Sterling, Va.-based Heckler & Koch (pronounced "coke") had to scale back its strategy in a major way after learning last October that the U.S. military had cancelled competitive bidding for the next-generation assault rifle

[powerplay]

The biased and exploitive tax exemptions given to Columbus City Councilors and their businesses, Columbus Chamber of Commerce Board members tax exemptions, Columbus Development Authority board members and their tax exemptions. All these people also supported the recent Sales Tax increase. Which also has no effect on Car Dealerships and hotels.

Now some tax incentives are necessary but when you look at some of them you will be amazed. They involve Luxury Apartments in Prime retail and real estate locations receiving millions in exemptions. Same with hotels and car dealers, I am not complaining about ones for industry that employs many people in a industrial center or about ones to investors for redeveloping blighted or strife sections of the city. I am deeply concerned about the ones for senior government officials in perfect locations. Those have no need even getting incentives let alone exemptions.


A quote from City manager recently....

“We believe we need more than $200 million to support our roads with widenings and intersection improvements,” says Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley. “We don’t have those dollars in hand locally, so we’ve written to our delegation to support us however they can with federal funding. If not, we have to determine how we fund those transportation projects locally.”

In other words....more taxes

[ATLCOL1]

Here are a few company expansions that I found.

1) Aflac - 2,000 jobs

2) DongNam Tech - 350 jobs (supplier for Kia)

3) PCI - 150 jobs

4) Cessna - 150 jobs

5) FedEx - 53 jobs

6) Kodak - 50 jobs

7) Buffalo Rock - 50 jobs

8) Teen Challenge New HQ - 60 jobs

9) AlaTrade Foods - 300 jobs, 800 planned

10) Masterbuilt - 40 jobs

11) Daehan Solutions - 300 jobs (Kia supplier in Harris County)


That's 3,503 jobs just from these companies.

This is just a list that I had. This doesn't include jobs related to retail, Fort Benning, Kia plant, Kia suppliers, National Infantry Museum, etc. There are thousands of other jobs from being created from these entities.

Columbus, like any other city right now, is hurting. However, Columbus continues to press forward and create thousands of new jobs for its residents. Can't wait to see what things look like in 2012!

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I really wish Atlanta's growth had been more spread across the state and that the second tier cities would have grown more and Atlanta less and that Georgia looked more like North Carolina where Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem/Greensboro are much larger than any of the second cities in Gerogia.

However, I don't think any of the second cities will be able to pull much growth away from Atlanta. Columbus with several headquarters and Fort Benning and Savannah with the port would seem natural choices, but so far the explosive growth happening in other parts of the south haven't hit there, nor Augusta or Macon. Steady, slow growth, but nothing on the lines of the North Carolina cities, Nashville, Orlando, etc.

Atlanta will continue to be the growth center for Georgia at the rest of the state's expense. Don't necessarily think that is best, just what is.

There is definitely explosive construction happening in metro Augusta. If you haven't been here in 1-5 years alot of major things have change.


The Augusta market has landed in a construction magazine's top 10 list for Southeastern construction spending. The metro area's construction spending surge 379 percent last year, helping the area place No. 5 in Southeast Construction 's ranking in its February issue.

Augusta during an 11-month period in 2007 vaulted above larger Southeastern markets Jacksonville, Raleigh, and Tampa,

1. Atlanta 13.9 billion
2. Miami
3. Orlando
4. Charlotte
5. Augusta 5.01 billion
6. Jacksonville
7. Raleigh
8. Tampa

Mayor Deke Copenhaver centered his state of the city speech around the growth in Augusta. With ADP, T-Mobile, the Augusta Mall, and I-20 all topping his list of major projects.
Augusta gets high ranking for growth

[yerocal]

There have been a lot of state and local studies that shows that Macon has the most potential to be the next hot spot in Ga. A community rich in history and culture, with an available and affordable workforce, state of the art technical training, four colleges and universities with over 30,000 students, over 1200 acres of Business and Industrial parks, a strong school system, solid utility infrastructure and low cost of doing business, Macon has much to offer new or relocating businesses. The Macon economy is heavily influenced by the 25,000 strong Robins Air Force Base 20 minutes south in Houston County.
Also it:
• Centralized location in Georgia
• Cross roads for Major interstate highways(I-75,475&16) and rail roads lines
• Proximity to Atlanta & Hartsfield

Future plans
• Proposed Commuter rail line between ATL & Macon
• Reliever Airport for Hartsfield
• 300 million dollar Interchange reconstruction of (I-75/16) Downtown 12-14 lanes at some points which includes (flyover bridges and a tunnel).

I curious to see how Macon stands as of 2007-2008 in development and growth..

Current projects:
• I-75/475 interchange reconstruction
• Macon has huge amount of construction going in DT from a few hotels, mix used retail and office to residential condo being constructed…..
• Included huge amount of retail and commercial growth all of town….
• 4-5 million sq ft of retail construction in North Macon/Bibb County right now which included a new mall and a Atlantic station type project as well.
• 2-3 million retail and commercial in south Macon/Bibb County

With in the last 2 years Macon has landed 7-8 new companies’ constructing operations, some to list are:
• Kohl DC
• Sara Lee
• Kellogg
• Kumho Tire Company
• Academy sports
• Bass Pro shops DC
• MBM Chic- fil-A DC
And more…….

Well-known companies with operations in Macon
• Geico Largest Regional Complex (3800)
• IKON Office Solutions (900)
• Medical Center of Central Ga. (5100) 2nd largest hospital in GA
• Coliseum Medical Center (2500)
• Boeing
• AT&T
• Wachovia Banking Center (Citi Bank Now after buyout)
• Georgia Power
• Ga. Farmer Bureau HQ
• Cox Communications Regional Office
• COKE
• Pepsi
• All State Claims Center
• Atlantic Southern Bank HQ
• One America
• State Farm Claims Center
• BB&T Bank
• First Data (GE)
• YKK
• The Trane Company
• Graphic Packaging Corp.
• Tyco
And more………………
these above does not include the smaller companies and the ones in WarnerRobins, Perry & Fort Valley here are a couple below:
Frito Lays(Perry/Kathleen)
Purdue(Perry/Macon)
Cagles(Macon)
Blue Bird Bus Manufacturing( Ft.Valley)
Step two- Toy Manufacturing(Ft. Valley)
Robins Air Force Base(25,000) (W.Robins)

Macon-Warner Robins Metro Area Colleges, Universities and Technical Schools
• Fort Valley State University
• Georgia College & State University-Milledgeville
• Georgia College & State University ( Graduate Center DT Macon)
• Mercer University - Macon
• Mercer University School of Medical & Law - Macon
• Wesleyan College- Macon
• Macon State College- Macon
• Central Georgia Technical College - Macon
• Middle Georgia Technical College-W. Robins
• American Professional Institute- Macon