143 replies to this topic

[Mith242]

totheskies, on May 20 2009, 03:26 PM, said:

I'm still willing to go with Ft. Smith, especially considering the current economic climate.  GenY is a completely different ballgame from GenX and the Babyboomers.  They have an interest in inner cities and older areas, and don't mind a little "grit" as the trade-off for access to amenities.  Springdale's growth model has worked well for most of the aughts, but with the 2008/2009 Recession, suburbs everywhere are in trouble.

You could be right.  Ft Smith is better set up to grow.  Most of the other cities on the list have had sudden rapid growth in the past decade or so.  Ft Smith's infrastructure is probably in better shape for growth than the other cities.  I think the one problem I see with Ft Smith is it's work force.  It relies a lot on manufacturing jobs and those same jobs seem to be moving away.  If there's not enough job growth there's no reason for people to move in.

[RussVegas]

It will be interesting to see the new 2010 census as to how far these cities have come along... I seen some people commenting on the whole I-40 situation from Conway to Little Rock, and I thought I would add in that this had been resolved..construction on a 6 Lane highway is slated to begin in 2012

[theman]

RussVegas, on 18 April 2010 - 07:43 PM, said:

It will be interesting to see the new 2010 census as to how far these cities have come along... I seen some people commenting on the whole I-40 situation from Conway to Little Rock, and I thought I would add in that this had been resolved..construction on a 6 Lane highway is slated to begin in 2012

That's good to know.  It only makes sense.  They have added lanes to interstates between Little Rock and Benton and now North Little Rock and Jacksonville.  The next logical step would be between North Little Rock and Conway with the growth of that city.  The new census numbers will probably bear that out more.

[Mith242]

Yeah I think we're all curious to see how the census numbers play out.  Just to see where everyone is at and if the current economic downturn slowed things down a bit.  With the exception of maybe Texarkana and Jonesboro expect central Arkansas and NWA to pick up good numbers while the rest of the state overall goes down.