What Cities are going through a Renaissance? (rent, condos)
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just a thought, what cities have really turned things around in the last decade or so.
Over the last 15 years, Providence, RI has completely revamped its downtown, re-aligning the river, new restaurants, new buildings, waterfire, retail, nightlife, university growth, condos, businesses, liberalmindedness ect. More and more people continue to visit or move from Boston to Providence for the cheaper COL and better social scene, particularly the gays, artists and hipsters.
Thats why they have now dubbed it the renaissance city.
Jersey City, NJ (I'm not being bias, i just don't want to name a city i've never been to)
It was one of the worst cities in the nation about 15 or 20 years ago and now after all it's major rehab it's becoming a great place for young people and it's attracting more tourist then ever; it's is becoming more and more like a smaller version of Manhattan. Good city
Last edited by Newarkbomb; 03-17-2009 at 12:39 PM..
New Bedford MA is revitalizing its downtown area so rapidly it's incredible. I was in town for the first time in 2 months this past Sunday and I noticed at least 5 new restaurants within about 3 blocks and 4 new bars including some great craft beer stops. I've been really impressed.
It doesn't hurt that it's only 20 minutes from Providence so maybe a little coat tail riding going on, but it's impressive none the less.
Milwaukee, no more Happy Days but Million dollar condo's are being built and our nightlife not as huge as Chicago's but rivals Chicago's in terms of quality. High end lounges and bars and restaurants. Rent that goes for 1200+ in downtown and Lower east side areas and Third Ward. Old industrial neighborhoods with old Victorian homes remodeled and bought for a dollar being sold for 500,000+ .
I agree about Milwaukee. It is definitely changing. I've brought this up before, but I will again. There was an article last summer in the LA Times. A writer flew to Milwaukee for the opening of the Harley Davidson Museum. Instead, he wrote an article about the city itself because he was so shocked. He kept stating how cosmopolitan it was. He brought up how there are so many options for nightlife, but the people are nicer and the clubs aren't as restrictive as LA or Vegas.
Washington DC is a big one that comes to mind. It was the murder capital on the country in the early 90s. Now it is doing so much better. I heard that only about 10-15 years ago Chinatown/Gallery Place downtown was terrible. No one went there and there was a ton of crime. I couldn't believe it the first time that someone told me that. Now they have the Verizon Center there with TONS of people walking around. Some people have even called in a mini Times Square.(of course nothing close to the real thing, but for DC it was a change with the video screens and lights everywhere.) There are quite a bit of other areas changing and now SW DC is picking up with the new Ballpark District and waterfront. I've seen a few articles about how once that is finished, DC will easily be considered one of the top world-class cities in America due to all of the changes.
I imagine the current economic slop we are muddling through will slow the Renaissance many cities had in mind. New projects will get scrapped.
I can't imagine the demand being there for some of these projects - who is shopping, who is opening up a retail store, who is buying million dollars condos, what companies need more office space?
Probably some, but the future ain't what it used to be
Pittsburgh is on Renaissance #3. Not much has been put on hold because of the economy. I think our commercial tenant occupancy is the highest percentage in the country. Newspapers across the nation have said this is the place to be during the current recession. Among other things going up in the downtown area are a casino and new arena.
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