Which city in SC will boom next? (Columbia, Charleston: home, law school)

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by adavi215

That being said I give York and Lancaster the edge over Aiken because Charlotte is booming, even in this recession.

Oh? Define "booming". I'd say MASSIVE job losses means that it is not, in fact, booming.

Furthermore, Augusta is right on the border, hence its inclusion in the discussion. You don't have to go to Aiken to see the impact of Augusta. You can go right across the river to North Augusta.

Now why it's included and, say, Charlotte isn't, I don't know. Hardly seems fair. Therefore, I suppose it's best to strike both from the conversation, as they are cities anchored in other states, only spilling into SC.

[fammaf]

Charleston is doing more than Greenville, Columbia & Augusta. I give Augusta the edge over Columbia and Greenville. Augusta has a spaghetti junction with flyovers going up at I-20/I-520. A National Security Agency costing over 1 billion. That's only one of three in the entire world. NSA is bringing 4,000 high paying jobs. Augusta is a very progressive city. Offering free Wi-Fi access to our downtown residents and patrons. I have visited all these cities with Columbia the most. Because its only a hour from Augusta.

[gvillesc]

Originally Posted by fammaf

Charleston is doing more than Greenville, Columbia & Augusta. I give Augusta the edge over Columbia and Greenville. Augusta has a spaghetti junction with flyovers going up at I-20/I-520. A National Security Agency costing over 1 billion. That's only one of three in the entire world. NSA is bringing 4,000 high paying jobs. Augusta is a very progressive city. Offering free Wi-Fi access to our downtown residents and patrons. I have visited all these cities with Columbia the most. Because its only a hour from Augusta.

Greenville also provides free wifi to those in the downtown. Hmm, actually, the city of Clemson does, too. In that case, I should probably claim that Clemson is going to be the state's next BOOM town.

Augusta is not in the same league, IMO, as the big three of SC.

[motonenterprises]

Originally Posted by fammaf

Charleston is doing more than Greenville, Columbia & Augusta. I give Augusta the edge over Columbia and Greenville. Augusta has a spaghetti junction with flyovers going up at I-20/I-520. A National Security Agency costing over 1 billion. That's only one of three in the entire world. NSA is bringing 4,000 high paying jobs. Augusta is a very progressive city. Offering free Wi-Fi access to our downtown residents and patrons. I have visited all these cities with Columbia the most. Because its only a hour from Augusta.

Show me the stats that prove this? Why are all of these cities outgrowing Augusta? Lets stop with the childish stuff, pull out the facts. I told you I'm familiar with all areas and Augusta seems behind.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by fammaf

Charleston is doing more than Greenville, Columbia & Augusta. I give Augusta the edge over Columbia and Greenville. Augusta has a spaghetti junction with flyovers going up at I-20/I-520. A National Security Agency costing over 1 billion. That's only one of three in the entire world. NSA is bringing 4,000 high paying jobs. Augusta is a very progressive city. Offering free Wi-Fi access to our downtown residents and patrons. I have visited all these cities with Columbia the most. Because its only a hour from Augusta.

You guys in other Georgia cities have Atlanta envy so bad until you see elevated highways as reaching "big time" status. That's pretty funny.

An NSA location is a good thing, that I will not deny. But that by itself doesn't put Augusta ahead of Columbia and Greenville. Looking at the latest GDP stats (which are from 2006), Augusta, with a metropolitan GDP of $16.448 billion, has some ground to make up before catching up with Greenville and Columbia in that regard, with metropolitan GDPs of $22.939 billion and $28.401 billion, respectively.

Free wi-fi downtown is a nice amenity, but again, in and of itself it doesn't place Augusta ahead of Columbia and Greenville. But it is a sign of a city making strides to be progressive.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Municipal wifi networks are generally a boondoggle, anyway. Cities underestimate the opex cost involved.

[bgnzsavnh]

Hardeeville

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[ckeegan]

Originally Posted by fammaf

Charleston is doing more than Greenville, Columbia & Augusta. I give Augusta the edge over Columbia and Greenville. Augusta has a spaghetti junction with flyovers going up at I-20/I-520. A National Security Agency costing over 1 billion. That's only one of three in the entire world. NSA is bringing 4,000 high paying jobs. Augusta is a very progressive city. Offering free Wi-Fi access to our downtown residents and patrons. I have visited all these cities with Columbia the most. Because its only a hour from Augusta.

Yes, Charleston may be doing more than Greenville, but it is more cleaning up than anything.

As for Augusta and NSA, no offense, but big deal. Millenium Campus in Greenville is a 250 acre project, which is estimated to provide 20,000 jobs upon completion. BMW's expansion alone is estimated at $750m, and it's still on track and on budget. I could continue with other development including Verdae (1,100 acre mixed-use master plan, Redi-Group (250 jobs), various projects on the West End, Samsung Call Center (1,000 jobs), etc, etc, etc...

Oh, and almost all of downtown Greenville has offered free Wi-Fi for at least 4 years now.

[adavi215]

Something I want to point out, but the Upstate area of SC has the highest GDP in the state. After that I believe it is Columbia, followed by Charleston. I know Columbia has USC, Charleston has CofC, the Upstate has Clemson among other schools. I think colleges are an essential driving force to an economy as they produce good educated talent to drive the economy. Given everything that has been stated so far, I still go with Upstate because they have a nice blend of manufactoring and service industries. It could go either way with Columbia too and they also have the state government. Charleston could easily outrank them both, but I haven't too much progressive ideas come out of the area.

[g-man430]

I think Dillon, SC will boom the most. Next.