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When Richmond (well Henrico) started talking about redeveloping Willow Lawn (a small mall and retail/office area bordering Richmond to the west) I immediately assumed it would be done on a North Hills scale. Boy was I disappointed (though Willow Lawn turned out pretty well and it did spur some new development around it).
West Broad Village is a live/work/play development in Short Pump. It was supposed to be like a North Hills development but the mid rise office buildings were scrapped so that they could build more townhomes (at $600k a pop). There are 6-8 newer lifestyle centers (live/work/play) around the metro but Libbie Mill seems like it will be the one to break away from the pack and become a true edge city. It is adjacent to Willow Lawn and the neighborhood between it and the super hot spot Scott’s Addition already has large office buildings (with more under construction) and the zoning has been changed to include high density housing (the first apartment building is underway). Libbie Mill itself has zoning for buildings up to 200 feet tall.
I wouldn't characterize Raleigh as an anomalous southern city by any stretch though; never did in much time spent here prior to moving here, and don't feel that way now that I live here...
It's anomalous in the way it evolved economically--that is to say, it basically came out of nowhere to become what it is today. Unlike other sizable Southeastern cities, manufacturing never really took hold in Raleigh and it was never a hub for any of the state's legacy industries (tobacco, textiles, furniture, etc). It had six textile mills but that was out of 300+ mills throughout the state. It was never a rail hub, having only two such lines. It wasn't a port city not a true river city. It had state government, a collection of colleges and institutions, and was a small commercial hub for the surrounding region, which was nothing special at all--until RTP was established in the mid-20th century. For the most part, Raleigh completely bypassed the industrial phase of growth and development that other Southern cities experienced beginning in the postbellum era and went straight to a white-collar, knowledge-based economy, and that wasn't due to local business leadership but primarily state leadership with the establishment of RTP and the growth of NC State and state government. That is a very unique set of circumstances from which a now well-recognized player in its field such as Raleigh has emerged. You often mention the fact that Raleigh has very little discernible urbanity outside of the downtown core and this largely explains why. Off the top of my head, the only other city in the Southeast that may have had a similar trajectory is Huntsville, AL and it's considerably smaller than Raleigh.
And of course, Richmond is an anomaly in that it was a prominent antebellum Southern city firmly rooted in the Old South that was more industrial than the typical Southern city and it has evolved to become a healthy white-collar center of commerce with multiple corporate headquarters across a wide swath of industries. Although it experienced the ups and downs that was common in the immediate postwar era to the end of the previous century, Its overall trajectory was markedly different from it antebellum peers Charleston and New Orleans which relied on vastly different economic strategies and had natural disasters to impede their progress along the way.
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Lol your gift and your curse is allowing benefit of doubt in the face of blatant statements that don't deserve it, and to posters who've shown that they mean exactly what they say...
Eh, I don't know the guy like that to say otherwise. We haven't interacted a whole lot on this forum.
For whatever it's worth, you can't discount the appeal of Richmond's outdoors scene (notice the huge Bass Pro World on I-95 S?) even if Raleigh is the media darling today.
I moved to the Richmond area 7 years ago for no reason other than to enjoy the downtown rapids and miles of rivers/coastline nearby to explore. I know several others who are big into kayaking or fishing that did the same.
To me Rich is a destination city like Denver or Seattle but instead of mountain sports, this is where water reins supreme.
I disagree that is a destination city in the same way. It is largely a regional city with interesting confederate history and dense residential inner city neighborhoods.
I disagree that is a destination city in the same way. It is largely a regional city with interesting confederate history and dense residential inner city neighborhoods.
The totality of Richmond's history is interesting, from the colonial era to the present day. I find its Black history specifically to be much more interesting than that of the era of the short-lived Confederacy.
A lot more of regional visitors are coming to Richmond for the food & drink, museums, black history as mentioned above (shout-out to the Kehinde Wiley statue). I wouldn't say it's at like a Seattle or west coast level, but it's becoming a tourism hot spot for east coasters.
A lot more of regional visitors are coming to Richmond for the food & drink, museums, black history as mentioned above (shout-out to the Kehinde Wiley statue). I wouldn't say it's at like a Seattle or west coast level, but it's becoming a tourism hot spot for east coasters.
I forgot to go check out 'Rumors of War' when I was in Richmond a couple of weeks ago. I'll make it a point to check it out in the near future.
Richmond reminds me a lot of Memphis and St. Louis, Baltimore to some extent. The are all fairly gritty and industrial cities which were way bigger cities 40 or 50 years ago. But as the industrial age waned despite though having great history and infrastructure did not prosper the way less industrial cities or cities which were built on other factors prospered...In stepped a host of smaller or equally sized sized cities that were plain and simple better positioned to embrace the more digital and modern age. In stepped Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta which actually was industrial also but transitioned better than most , Orlando, Tampa, Austin etc.
For the here and now (2020) and the near future Raleigh (RDU) has some of the best synergy and momentum anywhere in the country barring just a couple of cities. And one of the best setups of economies anywhere with Education, government, IT, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare paving the way and has largely escaped the negatives (Extremely bad traffic and drastic housing costs ex. Nashville, Austin)
Richmond is chugging along as are the other victims of the shifting industry of the latter part of last century B-more, St. Louis, Memphis but they do not have the Juice right now. the same way a lot of the boom cities now didnt have the Juice then. Also, Richmond had and has some crime issues to get over which hurt their image especially in the 70's/80's.
How does that old saying go "Every dog has it's day"
I've actually never been to Richmond despite living close to it here in Raleigh. Definitely think I will go there this summer. Stone Brewing has a tap room there and if it's anything like the San Diego location I went to then that's worth checking out the area alone. Virginia in general is just a nice area to visit.
Richmond reminds me a lot of Memphis and St. Louis, Baltimore to some extent. The are all fairly gritty and industrial cities which were way bigger cities 40 or 50 years ago. But as the industrial age waned despite though having great history and infrastructure did not prosper the way less industrial cities or cities which were built on other factors prospered...In stepped a host of smaller or equally sized sized cities that were plain and simple better positioned to embrace the more digital and modern age. In stepped Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta which actually was industrial also but transitioned better than most , Orlando, Tampa, Austin etc.
For the here and now (2020) and the near future Raleigh (RDU) has some of the best synergy and momentum anywhere in the country barring just a couple of cities. And one of the best setups of economies anywhere with Education, government, IT, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare paving the way and has largely escaped the negatives (Extremely bad traffic and drastic housing costs ex. Nashville, Austin)
Richmond is chugging along as are the other victims of the shifting industry of the latter part of last century B-more, St. Louis, Memphis but they do not have the Juice right now. the same way a lot of the boom cities now didnt have the Juice then. Also, Richmond had and has some crime issues to get over which hurt their image especially in the 70's/80's.
How does that old saying go "Every dog has it's day"
I'm going to disagree with you somewhat. Although Richmond definitely has an industrial past with legacy industries like tobacco being a major fixture in the city's economy as well as issues with high crime, it has done a much better job with transitioning to a more prosperous white-collar economy but without the accompanying population boom seen in the Piedmont cities to the south. There are six F500 headquarters in the metro area and there's a sizable banking sector in place with Capitol One (the largest private employer in the region), SunTrust, Wells Fargo, BOA, and the Federal Reserve Bank branch collectively employing upwards of 20K people. There are two large healthcare systems in the region, and of course higher education (VCU) and state government are fixtures that confer economic stability benefits.
Richmond also never really experienced a big economic bust like the Rustbelt and old river cities. There were population declines in the late 20th century but that seems to have been mainly due to increased suburbanization nationwide and an inability to annex like other cities due to Virginia's unique independent city setup. Richmond didn't experience any rioting in the post-Civil Rights era like other cities or more recently like Baltimore and St. Louis, and Virginia was the first state to elect a Black governor who was from Richmond. Although there's still lots of room for improvement when it comes to lowering crime and poverty levels, the city seems to have largely escaped hits to its reputation related to race, which can significantly stifle a city's economy.
I really don't get how Richmond is beating Raleigh in this poll. Everything except nightlife, Raleigh wins.
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