Jackson's skyline (Ridgeland, Madison, Canton: 2015, apartments, to rent)

[golden eagles fan]

I love looking at big-city skylines, whether it's New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, etc. I get that Jackson isn't a very large city, but I still find the skyline to be underwhelming. Will we get anymore high-rise (and taller) buildings in the future? I'd love to see more here.

[madison2013]

You mention NYC and Homg Kong and then say you're underwhelmed by Jackson's? No duh. How silly is this to even mention Jacksons skyline.

[brickpatio]

The future for downtowns seems to be apartments, rather than offices.

Currently the government is blocking downtown redevelopment and causing sprawl through two policies.

First, the government's tax code favors single family homes over apartments. And second, the government forces people into schools based on their place of residence, which causes people to move way out of town to find safety.

Both of these requirements by the government have hollowed out our cities and hampered redevelopment by making it economically unviable to tear down old houses and replace them with new ones.

Overnight the government could undo the damage it's causing to our cities by: - first, adjusting the tax code to create an equal playing field between owning and renting. This would make in-town apartment developments more economically viable. And - secondly, allowing children to attend any school of their choice: public, private or parochial (via a flat full scholarship available equally to each child).

With these two policy changes, which could be implemented tomorrow morning at 8:30am by the federal or state government, our downtowns would immediately begin booming, as families would find it a good financial decision, tax-wise, to rent a luxury downtown apartment (e.g. equally as nice as a home in say Madison) and to send their child to a nice private school on scholarship while living downtown.

It wouldn't be just downtown, but also areas like older parts of Northeast Jackson and say areas around Jackson State, as well as downtown, that would begin experiencing nice infill developments of all kinds, from high-rise luxury apartments to luxury patio homes and everything in between.

[madison2013]

Originally Posted by brickpatio

The future for downtowns seems to be apartments, rather than offices.

Currently the government is blocking downtown redevelopment and causing sprawl through two policies.

First, the government's tax code favors single family homes over apartments. And second, the government forces people into schools based on their place of residence, which causes people to move way out of town to find safety.

Both of these requirements by the government have hollowed out our cities and hampered redevelopment by making it economically unviable to tear down old houses and replace them with new ones.

Yeah, it's the governments fault. That's why people have abandoned downtown Jackson.

/sarcasm

[golden eagles fan]

Originally Posted by madison2013

You mention NYC and Homg Kong and then say you're underwhelmed by Jackson's? No duh. How silly is this to even mention Jacksons skyline.

I was not comparing Jackson with NYC or Hong Kong. But even for a city our size, it's rather underwhelming.

[brickpatio]

I can appreciate the sarcasm, which I assume is in reference to the horrific crime rate and corruption within the Jackson city government, etc. I won't deny those problems.

But I think the reason American downtowns in general have been abandoned (until very recently) and our cities are so spread out, are for the reasons I listed (tax rates that incentivize single family homes rather than apartments, and rules that tie schools to location of your home) and with a level playing field as noted above (deduct rent from taxable income and full scholarships to attend private and parochial schools of your choice), millions of people would love to live in a nice urban environment, including families.

And this would create a virtuous cycle, with new city residents bringing more money into the cities, thus allowing more money for law enforcement and amenities such as parks, landscaping, and better politicians, etc, which would attract even more families.

Speaking of downtowns, I wonder if the new downtown Madison will be a real downtown where people live, or just another boring shopping mall that looks vaguely like a real downtown. Has anyone heard about the plan coming out from Mary Hawkins Butler?

[Popquez87]

New Jackson restaurant coming to old Federal Building

Speaking of downtown, a new downtown restaurant is coming downtown. Dan Blumenthal, Jeff Good, Grady Griffin, Nick Wallace and David Watkins Jr. are all involved and apparently Nick Wallace, the chef, has even prepared food for the James Beard Foundation.

As far as the skyline, I would love to see Jackson's skyline become more impressive, but that also also involves financial growth of the city. One good thing about our unimipressive skyline is that there is a lot of room for growth, which means once Jackson gets more financial growth there is room for massive development.

[zblanton1]

Well I've always said downtown living is of the ultimate convenience! I mean do you wanna live where a lot of things are within walking distance or that are 5 minutes away, or do you want to live in a place like Gluckstadt where it relies literally on Madison for EVERYTHING besides housing. I've been calling Gluckstadt the classic suburban trap ... Why? Because it's nice, safe, new, to some extent the neighborhoods are luxurious, but what's missing .... Convenience! Yeah sure they have their own schools finally, but they're missing shopping centers, offices, places to eat, places to go, I mean living in Gluckstadt you have to drive all the way in to Madison or Ridgeland to even do anything!

It's sort of like Florence & Richland ... There's NOTHING in Florence, because they rely on Richland for everything! Now granted, Gluckstadt will probably never see a Wal-Mart which for that area is a bad thing. A Wal-Mart in Gluckstadt would spark commercial growth in the heavily rural area. But now that there's one in Canton & Madison, I doubt they'll ever feel compelled to give the people of Gluckstadt their own Wal-Mart.

But it doesn't stop there, shopping centers! There are none in Gluckstadt. Restaurants? Nope. Go to Madison. See what I'm getting at?

I just don't see why anyone would wanna live in an area that is so inconvenient and makes a person use so much gas just to get to one place! Oh and people that live in Gluckstadt that work in Jackson? HA! Have fun with that morning & afternoon traffic!

Seriously, downtown living is so convenient and it's in the center of everything! I think more families should invest in it.

[madison2013]

I don't even know where to begin in having a conversation with someone who thinks urban centers across America are in the state they are in due to government taxes.

[An Einnseanair]

The cost for construction per square foot of floor space goes up geometrically as you go higher. True high-rises are really only feasible when 1) the cost of land grows to the point where the extra cost of going higher is justified or 2) some developer wants to be famous and is willing to spend money for that purpose.

It's a huge status symbol to own property in downtown New York City, there is little to no "vacant" land available, so the Rich are willing to pay huge sums for paltry bits here and there. Not so for the current situation in downtown Jackson, MS.

Jackson may get high-rises in the future, but nothing like New York or Hong Kong.