The next Boomtown? (Columbia, Charleston, Greenville: living in, shop, license plates)

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by salatheel

What South Carolina city will turn into the next Raleigh or Charlotte? Will it be Columbia? Charleston? Greenville? Myrtle Beach? Will any eventually boom like Raleigh and Charlotte?

Right now metro Columbia and Myrtle Beach are seeing the largest gross population gains, followed closely by Charleston and Greenville. South Carolina has never been a "boom" sort of state so I doubt you'll see any of our cities experience a total boom, though the acceleration of the Columbia area's growth has been noticeable over the past 5 years, as has that in Myrtle Beach.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by p2y2r7o

I don't think it will be Myrtle...but I don't know where else to go with the question. I guess it could be any of the other three. I live in Greenville and love it, it's growing pretty quickly...which is great but somewhat scary as well.


*Angry Rant*

My family stopped visiting Myrtle Beach a few years ago, we hate it. It's so touristy, last time we were there it was nothing but crappy souvenir and bathing suit shops.

On top of that, there are sooooooo many people. It's rediculous, you can barely move! I guess we don't have interest in stores and water parks every other block. If you want to really enjoy SC beaches, go somewhere like Isle of Palms.

Wow I just got back from Mrytle and I'm in love and ready to pack it up from Charlotte. I can nice a nice house for 220,000 3 miles from the beach. I'm ready to go now! I didn't want to go home.

[Charleston native]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

Right now metro Columbia and Myrtle Beach are seeing the largest gross population gains, followed closely by Charleston and Greenville. South Carolina has never been a "boom" sort of state so I doubt you'll see any of our cities experience a total boom, though the acceleration of the Columbia area's growth has been noticeable over the past 5 years, as has that in Myrtle Beach.

Let's not forget Charleston. In actuality, Cola gained more in its population only because of the addition of four counties into its MSA (due to commute patterns), while Chas has kept its original three. Interestingly, the growth rate is higher in Chas with over 9% while Cola has over 8%. The growth in Cola was 56,000 more people and Chas received 54,000 more people.

Chas' potential for being a boomtown is there, keeping a competitive growth rate without the benefit of additional counties into its MSA.

As mentioned earlier, the revitalization of the decayed sections of the city is indeed taking place. Chas will be VERY different in 10 years.

[neonrider]

Columbia is the biggest city in SC and it is located between Charlotte and Atlanta, therefore it will be the biggest boomer now and in the future. Lexington, SC (8 miles west of Columbia) is the fastest growing county in SC and one of the fastest growing areas in USA and the world. Columbia can embrace the Lake Marion, it can grow North-East to Camden and Sumter, South to Gaston and even Orangeburg, west to Lexington and even Aiken connecting with Augusta MSA. Orangeburg, SC becoming a boom area on it's own due to the JAFZA project, the Inland Port Orangeburg County Development Commission . Central SC has somehow dry climate because of sandhills, with enough humidity in the air to prevent most forest fires. A very nice climate, not too warm, not too cold, a very nice location between majour cities on the East coast, therefore it has a potential even outgrowing Atlanta in the future. Columbia in fact has a better climate than Atlanta. Not as cold in winter, not as many tornadoes as well. If you can afford, buy homes on Lake Marion, if not, go for Lexington or Columbia metro. Lexington One are one of the best schools in the United States. Cheaper homes are located within 30-50 miles radius from Columbia in places like Pelion, Denmark, Sumter etc. Everything in South Carolina between the mountains and the coast is or will boom. It's going to become like California of the East Coast. Give it 20 years.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by neonrider

Columbia is the biggest city in SC and it is located between Charlotte and Atlanta, therefore it will be the biggest boomer now and in the future. Lexington, SC (8 miles west of Columbia) is the fastest growing county in SC and one of the fastest growing areas in USA and the world. Columbia can embrace the Lake Marion, it can grow North-East to Camden and Sumter, South to Gaston and even Orangeburg, west to Lexington and even Aiken connecting with Augusta MSA. Orangeburg, SC becoming a boom area on it's own due to the JAFZA project, the Inland Port Orangeburg County Development Commission . Central SC has somehow dry climate because of sandhills, with enough humidity in the air to prevent most forest fires. A very nice climate, not too warm, not too cold, a very nice location between majour cities on the East coast, therefore it has a potential even outgrowing Atlanta in the future. Columbia in fact has a better climate than Atlanta. Not as cold in winter, not as many tornadoes as well. If you can afford, buy homes on Lake Marion, if not, go for Lexington or Columbia metro. Lexington One are one of the best schools in the United States. Cheaper homes are located within 30-50 miles radius from Columbia in places like Pelion, Denmark, Sumter etc. Everything in South Carolina between the mountains and the coast is or will boom. It's going to become like California of the East Coast. Give it 20 years.

While I like your enthusiasm and dreams for our city, think they may be a little exaggerated. Columbia will never be as big as Atlanta or Charlotte in our lifetimes barring some kind of major disaster or event. The climate differences are minimal. While I think Columbia is a great city (we chose it over Charlotte or Atlanta), it's got limited places to grow as other posters have mentioned w/Ft. Jackson to the east, Lake Murray to the west, and the Conagree Swamp in the southeast. The northeast has sprawled and probably will continue out into the Camden area, the best bet is probably the north as another poster mentioned along US 21 & US 321 as well as the VA Hospital area eastward towards Sumter as it continues to grow.

I think it depends on your definition of a boomtown - the coastal areas are growing not necessarily b/c of abudance of new businesses or industries, but more so b/c of 'half-backers' who are flocking there upon retiring. Greenville-Spartanburg probably will continue to see the most growth in the state in it's ideal spot along the I-85 corridor right in the middle of Atlanta & Charlotte.

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by salatheel

What South Carolina city will turn into the next Raleigh or Charlotte? Will it be Columbia? Charleston? Greenville? Myrtle Beach? Will any eventually boom like Raleigh and Charlotte?

.

Charleston has been a classic boomtown since the 1970's.

Checkout the population of the Trident area in 1970 vs 2000.

[neonrider]

I somehow agree with you, but I keep my opinion. Isn't Columbia not in the middle of Charlotte und Atlanta on I-20 / I-77? And it's in between Charleston and Greenville/Asheville on I-26 as well. Crossroads location. You add Augusta on the way on I-20 as well. There's plenty of land for Columbia to grow towards Lexington, Irmo, Blytheville, Camden and southwards / south-west towards Gaston and Pelion too. I find Columbia much more attractive than Atlanta or Charlotte in a long run.

[g-man430]

Greenville County gained more people in 2007 according to Census than any other county in the state. Greenville County also has more people than any other county in the state right now with over 428,000 people. Next.

[Geechie North]

I'd suggest looking at MSA's, for accuracy:


South Carolina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From above:


"Largest City Areas
South Carolina's cities are actually much bigger than their city population counts suggest. South Carolina law makes it difficult to annex unincorported areas into the city limits, so city proper populations look smaller than they actually are. For example, Spartanburg and Myrtle Beach have populations over 180,000, and their metropolitan areas are much larger. Anderson city population is smaller than Sumter, but the Anderson area is much larger. The Sumter area population is under 100,000, but Andersons is over 120,000, while Anderson counties population is nearing 200,000.
Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville all area have "urbanized area" populations of around 400-420,000, while their metro area populations are all over 700,000. If Greenville-Spartanburg is considered one metro, as it was in the past before being split, its population is over 1 million. Similarly, Columbia's MSA population would top 1 million if the Sumter Metropolitan and Orangeburg Micropolitan areas were added."

FYI, the Trident Area (Charleston, Berkely, Dorchester Counties) had a population (combined) of 250,000 in 1970. Back when it was habitable, in my opinion.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by neonrider

I somehow agree with you, but I keep my opinion. Isn't Columbia not in the middle of Charlotte und Atlanta on I-20 / I-77? And it's in between Charleston and Greenville/Asheville on I-26 as well. Crossroads location. You add Augusta on the way on I-20 as well. There's plenty of land for Columbia to grow towards Lexington, Irmo, Blytheville, Camden and southwards / south-west towards Gaston and Pelion too. I find Columbia much more attractive than Atlanta or Charlotte in a long run.

To some extent it's in the middle, but no one from Charlotte would come down 77 to 20 to go to Atlanta unless they were just plain bored of the I-85 route, it would add an hour-plus to their drive. I agree that Columbia has a solid interstate system in place w/3 major Interstates in a city it's size (consider even Charlotte only has 2). I think moving north along I-77 in the future towards Charlotte as we're already seeing extend out to Blythewood is going to be where it's at in growing the metro area, altough heading both east and west on I-20 is also expanding quite a bit as well. It is going to be tough to grow southward unless they go through the Conagree swawp b/c Cayce sits directly to the south and they seem to be annexing w/out abandon i.e. the 3,000+ acres along the Conagree River. West isn't a whole lot easier when you have W. Cola, Irmo & Lexington all trying to lay claim to as much of that land as possible. I've posted before, that I think Columbia and Richland County should merge similarly to how Louisville, KY & Nashville, TN have done w/their respective counties. Even if just the northeast part of the county would be annexed, the city would nearly double in size. The bigger key though to me, is by merging, you merge services such as fire, police, etc. that save taxpayers money, hence, bring down property taxes adding another thing that makes Cola more attractive to live in.