News, Companies Eye Nashville For Relocation. (Franklin, Bells: private schools, income, living in)

[John1960]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Thousands of jobs could move to Music City.

Thirty nine companies are considering relocating or opening major offices in the greater Nashville area.

NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Companies Eye Nashville For Relocation

[bobtn]

As long as we remain a low cost state to do business in, we'll have this blessing every year. In the early part of the decade, Nashville set a 4 year net job creation goal of 50,000; critics said "couldn't be done". Critics were half-right; Nashville exceeded their lofty goal by 7%.

[JMT]

Even with Tennessee's low cost of doing business, these companies wouldn't be coming to town if Nashville weren't such a great place to live. I think everyone in Tennessee should be proud that Nashville is becoming so popular on a national level.

[alleycat]

The biggest drawback we have in Nashville itself for drawing new businesses to town is the public school system. A lot of people from the mayor on down are working on it, but it's going to be hard for all the interested parties to agree and implement a plan.

[scottv]

They all want to come to Cool Springs...and live in Franklin. That's where all the jobs and people/income are moving to. Nashville needs to get on the ball as far as schools are concerned because everyone coming here with kids who don't want to send their kids to private schools have MUCH better options in the surrounding counties. If I had kids I would have moved to Williamson County, no question.

[scarletneon]

whoooo sprawl! j/k

I hope Nashville and the surrounding counties are trying to do some smart planning (housing, commercial AND transit development) with even MORE people descending on the area.

[ariesjow]

Originally Posted by scottv

They all want to come to Cool Springs...and live in Franklin. That's where all the jobs and people/income are moving to. Nashville needs to get on the ball as far as schools are concerned because everyone coming here with kids who don't want to send their kids to private schools have MUCH better options in the surrounding counties. If I had kids I would have moved to Williamson County, no question.

Not exactly true. The Nashville Chamber of Commerce does frequently miss some opportunities that Williamson County and other surrounding counties capture. However, it's not primarily because of schools (although they must certainly improve).

There will always be businesses who prefer the larger floorplates and other things a suburban location might offer and others who are better off in a more urban setting. Public schools are a miniscule factor in corporate relocations compared to others like general cost of operating a business, government incentives, proximity to related businesses & clients, available of quality/quantity of spaces desired, etc.

Davidson County is actually still managing to do quite well for itself at attracting a variety of businesses and residents. Nashville's office occupancy remains quite strong throughout downtown and midtown.

[scottv]

I'm saying that regardless of whether a company relocates to Cools Springs or Nashville, the employees are choosing to live outside of Davidson for the most part-although it is changing now because of gas prices and traffic. It's hard for relocating families to consider Davidson when you have great schools one county over...and I know Nashville has MLK, but that is one of the few outliers for Davidson County schools.

[supanaut]

The proposed Bells Bend development could really accelerate the process as well:

Planners release ‘final’ Bells Bend proposal on Nashville City Paper

I don't think Nashville will be able to compete with Cool Springs/Franklin/Williamson county unless it gets something like this. Some of the comments associated with that article do a really good job explaining why.

[ariesjow]

Originally Posted by scottv

I'm saying that regardless of whether a company relocates to Cools Springs or Nashville, the employees are choosing to live outside of Davidson for the most part-although it is changing now because of gas prices and traffic. It's hard for relocating families to consider Davidson when you have great schools one county over...and I know Nashville has MLK, but that is one of the few outliers for Davidson County schools.

Even with the many people who prefer living in suburbs for various reasons, Davidson County still gained more people since 2000 than every county in the state save for Rutherford County. Rutherford County is doing extremely well at attracting residents even compared to Williamson County.

Davidson County is simply not gaining at the same percentage as it's surrounding counties but is still gaining strong numbers. This is to be expected since it has a much, much larger population than any other county in the metro. It would be almost freightening if Davidson County gained people at the same percent as Rutherford or Williamson County considering its' size. The infrastruture would not keep pace with growth. Indeed, many believe we are already struggling to manage the growth.