Jobs moving back to US City Centers....EXCEPT in Dallas! (Houston: 2015, home)

[#1soonerfan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/up...abt=0002&abg=0

Employment in city centers — within a three-mile radius of central business districts — climbed half a percent over all between 2007 and 2011, while employment in the surrounding metropolitan areas declined one-tenth of a percent. In the previous five years, employment in city centers climbed just 0.1 percent while outside it climbed 1.2 percent.

Some cities have not followed the trend, like Dallas and Houston, where employment outside the city is still growing faster.

Here is a link to the full report: http://cityobservatory.org/wp-conten...enter-Jobs.pdf

With employers moving into cities like NYC and Chicago as well as more spread out, car dependent cities like Austin and Charlotte, why is Dallas struggling to do the same?

[Rock Climber]

Dallas has a multi-polar business community, with large clusters of corporate HQs outside the central core city.

The biggest issue for Dallas is the DISD. If there was anything remotely resembling a good school system in the city of Dallas, the trend would be the same in Dallas as it is other places.

[Tamara0914]

Originally Posted by Rock Climber

Dallas has a multi-polar business community, with large clusters of corporate HQs outside the central core city.

The biggest issue for Dallas is the DISD. If there was anything remotely resembling a good school system in the city of Dallas, the trend would be the same in Dallas as it is other places.

Well, most cities do not have a good public school system in the city core. However, that does not deter corporations from being housed there. I lived in Philly and DC, and I can assure you neither of those school systems resemble anything close to decent, let alone good. On that same note though, Dallas is not the only city that has large clusters of corporate offices outside of the city core. Herndon, VA - Mclean, VA - Reston, VA, - Rockville, MD -- all suburbs of the DC metro area, and home to huge corporations.

[jdallas]

Draw a 3 mile radius from the Dallas CBD and it will become painfully clear why this particular zone isn't fostering major growth of employment figures.
Also, unlike more established cities, Dallas still has quite a bit of available land along the periphery combined with modern infrastructure. Why would a major employer want to invest in a constrictive environment (aging infrastructure among predominantly tower footprints) when they can have an entire campus built to spec. right in the middle of their employee base?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Rock Climber

Dallas has a multi-polar business community, with large clusters of corporate HQs outside the central core city.

The biggest issue for Dallas is the DISD. If there was anything remotely resembling a good school system in the city of Dallas, the trend would be the same in Dallas as it is other places.

Excellent post. I'd add that near downtown and Uptown etc. doing business costs more - so that's an additional factor.

[#1soonerfan]

^
Would you believe this to be different in any other city?

[Beardown91737]

Chicago and NY are financial centers with stock and commodities exchanges. Some others like Charlotte and Minneapolis are also financial and HQ cities. For the rest, they are county seats and attract a lot of government employment. Maybe not as much of a government employment explosion in Dallas as in other places. Texas seems to prefer micro government in the form of HOAs to big government, but HOAs don't need employees as much as they need busybodies.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by Rock Climber

Dallas has a multi-polar business community, with large clusters of corporate HQs outside the central core city.

The biggest issue for Dallas is the DISD. If there was anything remotely resembling a good school system in the city of Dallas, the trend would be the same in Dallas as it is other places.

This is a chicken or the egg type issue. Schools become bad when people with money leave. Once they're bad, no one with money wants to move there.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by #1soonerfan

^
Would you believe this to be different in any other city?

In terms of relative magnitude, yes.

[pharpe]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

This is a chicken or the egg type issue. Schools become bad when people with money leave. Once they're bad, no one with money wants to move there.

There is tons of money in Dallas. Preston Hollow, Lakewood, and Uptown are huge area's of Dallas that are as or more affluent than any suburb. People their just use private schools for the most part.