Small City Downtowns (metro, suburbs, Detroit, population)

[ral31]

Which small U.S. cities (metro population less than 250,000) have nice, well-developed downtown areas? Which ones need work?

[GreggB]

2 Smaller town that have VERY nice downtowns are La Crosse Wisconsin and Rapid City South Dakota. Population of both cities around 70,000.

[SteelCityRising]

In my area:

Communities with great downtowns:
Bethlehem, PA
Bloomsburg, PA
Clarks Summit, PA
Danville, PA
East Stroudsburg, PA
Hawley, PA
Honesdale, PA
Jim Thorpe, PA
Lewisburg, PA
Milford, PA
Montrose, PA
Muncy, PA
State College, PA
Stroudsburg, PA
Towanda, PA
Tunkhannock, PA
Wellsboro, PA
Williamsport, PA



Communities that need work:
Allentown, PA
Avoca, PA
Berwick, PA
Binghamton, NY
Carbondale, PA
Dupont, PA
Easton, PA
Edwardsville, PA
Elmira, NY
Hazleton, PA
Lehighton, PA
Mount Carmel, PA
Nanticoke, PA
Palmerton, PA
Pittston, PA
Plymouth, PA
Pottsville, PA
Scranton, PA
Shamokin, PA
Shenandoah, PA
Sunbury, PA
Tamaqua, PA
Wilkes-Barre, PA

[Katarina Witt]

Some of those towns need work on more than their downtowns, SWB.

[Adream]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

In my area:

Communities with great downtowns:

State College, PA

Right you are, SWB! Can't say anything about the others listed, but State College has a fantastic little downtown. The whole area is beautiful, and the Penn State campus is phenomenal! I was just there last weekend, and will be heading back at the end of the week. Even the drive up is pretty.

[Billiam]

Frederick,MD has a nice downtown! Great little town to walk around and go into allllll of the small shops. Lots of good restaurants too with a nice little (touristy) river walk with some really great bridges

[Jake1256]

Ann Arbor has a nice downtown, city pop of 150,000. also plymouth, mi has a nice little downtown, city pop 25,000. I like big cities so much more though, like Detroit.

[Katarina Witt]

Boulder, Colorado has a neat downtown in the Pearl St. Mall (outdoor mall), but there's very little you can buy to meet your daily needs of clothes, housewares, etc. They have a "wannabe" shopping center that takes care of some of that, but I think most people actually go to the real mall in Broomfield to buy clothes.

[M TYPE X]

LOL @ ScrantonWB and Pittnurse on PA cities.

My short list:

Ann Arbor, MI
Marquette, MI
Grand Haven, MI
Petoskey, MI
Traverse City, MI
Madison, WI
Iowa City, IA
State College, PA
Chagrin Falls, OH
Rocky River, OH
Birmingham, MI
Plymouth, MI
Rochester, MI
Royal Oak, MI
Bellevue, WA
Palo Alto, CA
Chapel Hill, NC
Charlottesville, VA
Champaign, IL

... basically, a list of nice college towns, upper middle class suburbs, and quiet beach resorts. How surprising.
No, I am not going to nominate Hudson, OH. Thank you for asking.

[ral31]

The downtown of my hometown, Alexandria, LA (city pop. 50,000 & metro pop. 150,000), is so-so, for the most part. Even though it has potential, a good number of downtown buildings sit vacant. Some revitalization has been done and a few new restaurants & businesses have set up shop. But there is still much more work to be done.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/84/DowntownAlexandria3rd.jpg/800px- (broken link)

http://static3.bareka.com/photos/medium/2736622/francis-xavier-cathedral-street.jpg (broken link)

http://static3.bareka.com/photos/medium/3520398/riverfront-center-main-street.jpg (broken link)

The Centre Court area of Alexandria (in the southwest part of town) seems to be emerging as a "second downtown."

http://static2.bareka.com/photos/medium/3520729/centre-court-area.jpg (broken link)

http://static2.bareka.com/photos/medium/2555197/centre-court-under-construction.jpg (broken link)