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Sports stadia are an example. True, people (sports fans) come. But it seldom pays off financially. Often the team, which has paid little towards the construction but pocket most of the revenue. Of course there is strain on the infrastructure as fans travel to the games. It is especially a strain when the stadium is built on prime downtown real estate.
Downtown Tampa used to be terrible- one of those places that was dead after 5, and now it’s actually pretty decent. I think it worked out pretty well there. They really invested in making the Riverwalk areas nice and trying to make the area a place people would want to come and/or stay after 5pm.
Contrast this with Jacksonville, where there are still ghost towers in the Riverwalk area and people still feel that it the downtown area dangerous after dark. They keep trying to put ridiculous amounts of money into the stadium and auxiliary facilities, but very little goes into any other amenities in the city that the general populace can enjoy for the rest of the year. The stadium isn’t the only thing that is going to make the city nicer. It’s a classic example of trying to use a stadium to help improve a city that has not worked.
Do they have VC firms and hella risky capital?
Do they have top colleges attracting amazing talent to an area and developing successfully?
Do they have other tech firms that can build off one another and steal from one another?
they have a few of these (except the top colleges) and the intention is to attract more talent along with the competition with the items they are still building out. The same deep pocketed foundation that's helping to build out the area also plays a VC role, but there are smaller venture capital firms. I'm not saying the build out will be successful, but they are trying.
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Originally Posted by artillery77
People don't work at Google because of the cafeteria. They stay at work slightly longer while already at Google because of the cafeteria.
no argument on this point, but without the intense level of tech and money, they have to start somewhere
Last edited by gunslinger256; 10-14-2018 at 10:38 AM..
Downtown Tampa used to be terrible- one of those places that was dead after 5, and now it’s actually pretty decent. I think it worked out pretty well there. They really invested in making the Riverwalk areas nice and trying to make the area a place people would want to come and/or stay after 5pm.
Contrast this with Jacksonville, where there are still ghost towers in the Riverwalk area and people still feel that it the downtown area dangerous after dark. They keep trying to put ridiculous amounts of money into the stadium and auxiliary facilities, but very little goes into any other amenities in the city that the general populace can enjoy for the rest of the year. The stadium isn’t the only thing that is going to make the city nicer. It’s a classic example of trying to use a stadium to help improve a city that has not worked.
Right but Tampa has been a powerhouse at corporate recruiting/relocations. In other words, they're attracting new money and new jobs. Is that because they fancied up the Riverfront? Or is the Riverfront investment as a result of new demand created by the influx of companies?
they have a few of these (except the top colleges) and the intention is to attract more talent along with the competition with the items they are still building out. The same deep pocketed foundation that's helping to build out the area also plays a VC role, but there are smaller venture capital firms. I'm not saying the build out will be successful, but they are trying.
no argument on this point, but without the intense level of tech and money, they have to start somewhere
I guess what I'm saying is most of the SaaS companies can literally be anywhere, so they will locate where talent is developed and where there is easy capital available. SaaS can be anywhere, and is very well connected with other labor markets. There's a lot of cross-polinization of portfolio activity even without planning it. Design everything independently and you'll be out of the loop of where things need to be. That's why the schools are important.
Hardware is different. You need the engineers with the machines and the capability to design. That grows fairly organically. To get that, attracting a subset is risky, but the best bet. Get 8 companies doing something similar. One will likely stand-out. That's why you hear of VC investing in 50 startups and happy if 2 make it. These VC firms sometimes act like the vertical supply chain for manufacturer. They get their spectrum of the Value add line and they make sure they are the place to go no matter which of their investments win.
Once there's a general agreement in what wants to be attracted, you'll be able to ascertain what the government could do to help promote that and if there's shared infrastructure that could be built. Otherwise its putting up buildings that all need to be retrofit for purpose anyway. I was told Solyndra had a really nice facility put together right before they tore it apart in bankruptcy.
Like manufacturing industries, the tech areas will cluster. That focus will be most important on your city's efforts. Have an old closed air force base that you want to open up to drone testing, with different signal relay options and nearby buildings for 3D printing for parts....ok, that might work. A general low tax rate for tech companies in our tech building....not so much.
This BBC documentary explains why companies choose where they are located. It talks about the economic forces shaping our cities, such as agglomoration, globalization, and gentrification. It's a good watch for anyone interested in urban economics. It uses London as an example, but you can replace it with NYC, SF, or Toronto and their points will still be valid.
This BBC documentary explains why companies choose where they are located. It talks about the economic forces shaping our cities, such as agglomoration, globalization, and gentrification. It's a good watch for anyone interested in urban economics. It uses London as an example, but you can replace it with NYC, SF, or Toronto and their points will still be valid.
Starts off suggesting London is evolving to be the capital of the world. Kinda difficult to simply insert any one of the other cities suggested 'cause you can only have one capital and neither London nor any of the others will ever be "the capital of the world". At least the narrator admitted as to density there can be "too much of a 'good' thing".
My thought exactly, it doesn't seem like they have anything to lose, I think it's worth a try. Not to mention they're already over a million people in Birmingham who year over year are actually growing in wealth.
Contrast this with Jacksonville, where there are still ghost towers in the Riverwalk area and people still feel that it the downtown area dangerous after dark. They keep trying to put ridiculous amounts of money into the stadium and auxiliary facilities, but very little goes into any other amenities in the city that the general populace can enjoy for the rest of the year. The stadium isn’t the only thing that is going to make the city nicer. It’s a classic example of trying to use a stadium to help improve a city that has not worked.
Sports fans are going to have their stadium, no matter what the justification.
I know Seattle is in a very different boat since it's booming right now, however with some of their projects, they have a "build it and they will come" attitude. So for example the light rail. Most of the light rail stations don't have any parking garages and few of them are on high density neighborhoods. However city planners expect that once a station is built that much of the area around it will be redeveloped into a high density neighborhood.
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