Nashville vs. Louisville (Memphis, Jackson, Germantown: lofts, condos, hotels)

[watchmanonthewall]

Nothing like starting a war on Thanksgiving but all this talk about how cool East Nashville is has motivated me to get this off my chest. I am in both of these cities frequently. Louisville, to me, is a much better place to live the city life than Nashville. Most of the neighborhoods around Nashville's inner core are dumps. West end is fine, but there is not a lot of housing in that area. It is mostly dominated by Vandy, Belmont, hotels, ugly hospitals, and light retail (ex Office Depot types). Yes, they are building a lot of condos but unless you want to spend 300k and up to live in a glass box, there isn't much else. East Nashville, Charlotte, everything north of the capital complex ( Jefferson ST and Germantown ughhh ); would any woman in her right mind walk through one of these areas alone at night? No, not unless she wants to become a murder victim. Louisville, on the other hand is fantastic. You have Old Louisville, the absolutely wonderful Bardstown Road corridor, Frankfort Avenue, Baxter Ave, and on and on. These are real neighborhoods with real people, people of every type walking, running, shopping, etc... . Lots of housing, places to eat (and I'm not talking about Fridays and Applebees), boutiques, etc... . Nashville is a big city whose soul is in the suburbs. Louisville ia a big city that has people who LIVE IN the city. I say Louisville wins hands down.

[ariesjow]

Louisville, much like places such as Memphis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Columbus, etc. was a big city far before Nashville. It has the more established urban core complete with historic buildings and old housing stock to prove it. Of course, it was also more stagnant during the era of urban renewal which saw the obliteration of old urban building stock in Nashville and some other Southeast metros like Atlanta, Charlotte and Jacksonville. This certainly didn't help Nashville's core.

I wouldn't necessarily call Nashville a city of suburbs but a city of exurbs and suburbs. A little under one-third of the metro's population is within Nashville. This city-metro distribution isn't too dissimilar to many American cities. But because that third of the population is sprawled out all over Davidson County, which isn't very dense for a myriad of reasons, we get a city that feels more like a conglomeration of a bunch of different small towns than a cohesive city with distinct neighborhoods. I much prefer more cohesiveness but some actually don't.

So, in the sense of having a denser city with walkable neighborhoods, yes, Nashville definitely lags behind some of its' comparable neighbors like Memphis and Louisville. For the most part, the amenities are comparable but one has to get in the car and drive to Hillsboro Village or Green Hills for a trendy boutique or leave Madison for Five Points to get to their favorite breakfast spot. This is mildly frustrating but we can't go back from the turn of the the century onward to rebuild and give Nashville a totally different built environment. We work with what we're given.

Thankfully, there's now a groundswell of interest now to not only preserve or revitalize what we have in the core but to vigorously expand upon it. I believe in the coming years we're going to see more and more urban development and some of it will increasingly be more affordable to the average Nashvillian. We're just now seeing more moderately-priced development like Station Lofts and West Eastland. Even in five years, some of Nashville's core neighborhoods, such as the aforementioned Germantown, will be almost completely unidentifiable. Some, like the Gulch, will have been developed from the bottom up.

[watchmanonthewall]

Wow! That was a great response. So much for this thread. I guess it's time to eat. Happy Thanksgiving!

[MichaelBNA]

Originally Posted by watchmanonthewall

Nothing like starting a war on Thanksgiving but all this talk about how cool East Nashville is has motivated me to get this off my chest. I am in both of these cities frequently. Louisville, to me, is a much better place to live the city life than Nashville. Most of the neighborhoods around Nashville's inner core are dumps. West end is fine, but there is not a lot of housing in that area. It is mostly dominated by Vandy, Belmont, hotels, ugly hospitals, and light retail (ex Office Depot types). Yes, they are building a lot of condos but unless you want to spend 300k and up to live in a glass box, there isn't much else. East Nashville, Charlotte, everything north of the capital complex ( Jefferson ST and Germantown ughhh ); would any woman in her right mind walk through one of these areas alone at night? No, not unless she wants to become a murder victim. Louisville, on the other hand is fantastic. You have Old Louisville, the absolutely wonderful Bardstown Road corridor, Frankfort Avenue, Baxter Ave, and on and on. These are real neighborhoods with real people, people of every type walking, running, shopping, etc... . Lots of housing, places to eat (and I'm not talking about Fridays and Applebees), boutiques, etc... . Nashville is a big city whose soul is in the suburbs. Louisville ia a big city that has people who LIVE IN the city. I say Louisville wins hands down.

Oh my God! What a goofy post.

You don't live in either city, but yet you feel "compelled" to start a flame war based on your "opinion"? That's funny.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by MichaelBNA

Oh my God! What a goofy post.

You don't live in either city, but yet you feel "compelled" to start a flame war based on your "opinion"? That's funny.

It was probably a slow news day . . .

I guess the thread served its purpose for the OP.

[IngleDave]

I've always loved Louisville for the very reasons stated. Alleycat is right on with the fact that those other cities were much larger than Nashville much earlier. Don't forget Birmingham in that mix as it contains magnificent older building stock of which I'm quite envious. Nashville has become a hot spot of the early 21st century and will remain so. I'm sometimes torn between my love of the old architecture and the new. I'm very happy that the preservationists and historians are now doing what they can to save what he have left, but I can't help but get a sense of renewed spirit when I walk through downtown and drive through the surrounding neighborhoods and watch a new city being built around us with contemporary designs and amenities. I'll second the notion that in five years we won't recognize this place, but will love it as it is. We're very lucky in being close enough to take day trips to our older, formerly larger peer cities to enjoy what they can offer in much the same way residents of those cities come to Nashville to see what's going on here. I've never really understood the battles that often ensue, but rather enjoy our southeastern neighborhood for everything is gives us within a 200-mile radius.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by IngleDave

Alleycat is right . . .

That was a typo. You actually meant ariesjow.

I try not to even respond to posts that set out to start an argument, especially a pointless argument. My post was just a quip to MichaelBNA.

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by ariesjow

Louisville, much like places such as Memphis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Columbus, etc. was a big city far before Nashville. It has the more established urban core complete with historic buildings and old housing stock to prove it. Of course, it was also more stagnant during the era of urban renewal which saw the obliteration of old urban building stock in Nashville and some other Southeast metros like Atlanta, Charlotte and Jacksonville. This certainly didn't help Nashville's core.

I wouldn't necessarily call Nashville a city of suburbs but a city of exurbs and suburbs. A little under one-third of the metro's population is within Nashville. This city-metro distribution isn't too dissimilar to many American cities. But because that third of the population is sprawled out all over Davidson County, which isn't very dense for a myriad of reasons, we get a city that feels more like a conglomeration of a bunch of different small towns than a cohesive city with distinct neighborhoods. I much prefer more cohesiveness but some actually don't.

So, in the sense of having a denser city with walkable neighborhoods, yes, Nashville definitely lags behind some of its' comparable neighbors like Memphis and Louisville. For the most part, the amenities are comparable but one has to get in the car and drive to Hillsboro Village or Green Hills for a trendy boutique or leave Madison for Five Points to get to their favorite breakfast spot. This is mildly frustrating but we can't go back from the turn of the the century onward to rebuild and give Nashville a totally different built environment. We work with what we're given.

Thankfully, there's now a groundswell of interest now to not only preserve or revitalize what we have in the core but to vigorously expand upon it. I believe in the coming years we're going to see more and more urban development and some of it will increasingly be more affordable to the average Nashvillian. We're just now seeing more moderately-priced development like Station Lofts and West Eastland. Even in five years, some of Nashville's core neighborhoods, such as the aforementioned Germantown, will be almost completely unidentifiable. Some, like the Gulch, will have been developed from the bottom up.

The first time I drove thru Nashville it reminded me of downtown Los Angeles - full of of ugly strip malls, and a kind of carny tinged downtown.


I think you're spot on -Louisville sounds great - is it more expensive to live there than Nashville? .... the tax situation is pretty bad in Louiisville..

[IngleDave]

Oops, sorry alleycat, must have been one of my "sleeping posts."

[MichaelBNA]

Originally Posted by 12buttons

The first time I drove thru Nashville it reminded me of downtown Los Angeles - full of of ugly strip malls, and a kind of carny tinged downtown.

Louisville has that too. An ummmm, so do most mid to large sized cities in America. Why act like it is unique to Nashville? The comparison to LA is fine (music and tv play into that), but to compare sprawl here to that in SoCal is laughable.

Nashville is a great place to live and that's why you see people flocking here to make a home. That's why you see companies moving their HQ's here.