113 replies to this topic

[jaxlvr_24]

Which city is Jacksonville's biggest economic rival?

[simms3]

i would have to say charlotte because both cities are undergoing the same fast paced growth and urban renewal, and it all comes down to who comes out on top as the south's second premiere city, nashville i would have to say is in this too

[Florida]

Charlotte is the only city I would compare to Jacksonville. Before this year I might have said New Orleans also.

[jaxlvr_24]

I would vote for Charlotte too.  They stole our bank!

[asonj23]

Charlotte

[ariesjow]

Nashville or Charlotte. I voted for Nashville since I think Charlotte is developing at a slightly faster pace than either Nashville or Jax. Those projects they have going on there are impressive. However, the amount of great development in these three similar sized Southern cities is great.

Edited by ariesjow, 28 December 2005 - 08:20 PM.

[Urban_Legend]

I kinda saw Charlotte as being ahead of Jacksonville, not its equal.  I went with Tampa.  At least Jax and Tampa have comparable weather...

[bobliocatt]

Tampa is in another league then all of these cities.  As for a rival, on these forums...Charlotte and Nashville.  In reality.....neither.  Economically, we're a million miles apart from those two land-locked communities.  Jax seems to be a city focusing on its self with dreams of becoming something bigger then what Charlotte and Nashville are.  But If I were to chose a city, it would probably be Orlando, Tampa and Miami, just because they compete for State Tax dollars and businesses.

[Urban_Legend]

^Ooh, I hadn't given much thought to state tax dollar competition.

[upstate29650]

From banking to football, our rival is Charlotte, no question.

[Noneck_08]

Absoultly Charlotte. They both have similar populations, are large banking centers, and are experincing a major overhall in there downtown's(condo's,etc.).

[wolfdawg54]

Nashville is our rival city, although Charlotte is not out of the question. Nashville is industrial nad Jax has a big industrial base too with CSX.

[simms3]

looking at the choices, when it comes to the economy nationwide and even worldwide, nashville and charlotte are our true competition because jacksonville's economy runs on industry (nashville) and banking/insurance/commerce (charlotte).  charleston is too small and only our ports are in competition really.  Raleigh/Durham is more dependent on technology and research companies.

when it comes to assisted economy and infrastructure, then clearly tampa and orlando are our competitors because we all compete for money from the state, and if their economies are booming and bigger than ours, they are going to attract the eye of the governor and receive more benefits in a demand based system.

so there are different ways to look at the situation...

[bobliocatt]

But the wildcard is the Navy.  The military means as much to this economy as banking does to Charlotte.

[AceMentor]

upstate29650, on Dec 29 2005, 05:27 PM, said:

From banking to football, our rival is Charlotte, no question.

I disagree. In football the titans and Jags are much bigger rivals. 5 years ago, Who knocked yall out of the Super Bowl (not to be mean or anything but just proving a point). Also, Jacksonville is the HQ of CSX while nashville is one of its biggest rail hubs. In skyline, both are trying to top charlottes BOA, nashville with the Sig tower and the 70 story Peabody tower while I don't know what jacksonville is building but I'm sure its large. Where Nashville beats Jacksonville is on MSA. Nashville has 1.5 to jacksonville's 1.3. And back to the HQ topic,  Nashville is probably the largest car manufacturing market in the NAtion. Recently we landed Nissan North america and we also are the HQ of saturn. Plus the healthcare and music industry (nashville has 6.5 billion dollars in annual revenue which is more than all the other major entertainment cities combined). Both cities should be considered rival cities, they are very neck and neck and similar.

[MrJoshua]

I don't know if we have a true rival. Jax has one foot firmly planted in the South, one in Florida.

I would not say Charlotte.... it is roughly the same distance away as Miami, and almost as foreign. Charlotte has quite a few more people in its metro area (2.1 million vs. 1.2 million) and has the largest banking HQ concentration in the US. Economically, Charlotte is closer to Dallas than Jacksonville. By all accounts, it is a bigger and different city.

Nashville might be better on paper, but do we in Florida have ANYTHING in common with a city in Tennessee's hinterlands? 600 miles away? Nashville is where the South meets Appalachia. Might as well compare Jacksonville to Havana (which consequently is far closer). Similar sizes, totally different cities. Aside from the football thing, I just do not see it.

Orlando, Tampa... all true Florida cities with dependencies on tourism.

Bottom line... I have no diea. JAX is a unique city. Not quite a "world class" metro area some people here think it should be, but it is not Mobile, AL either. Maybe in 20 years we will have a better answer to the question.

[Charleston native]

Wow, I wanted to say Charlotte, but after reading AceMentor's post, I decided to go with Nashville. These 2 cities compete with each other on many different levels. Ace mentioned health care, and Jax is also expanding its significance in terms of growing hospitals, attracting bio-tech companies, and bringing in young, health care professionals. Nash and Jax are also similar in MSA size, skyscraper building, and attracting more respect and prestige among the biggest cities in the US. Lastly, the football teams have a great rivalry. Charlotte is a close 2nd with its similarities to Jax, I must say.

I'm surprised my hometown made the poll!   Chas and Jax are considered to be sister cities along with Savannah. Considering how fast Chas is growing, I foresee a possible rivalry between Chas and Jax within the next 20-30 years. An article was recently published showing how Charleston's boom patterns are very similar to how Jax started booming. However, Chas currently can't touch Jax competitively except for its port. The port of Chas is the 2nd largest on the East Coast and 4th largest in the nation.

[Britainny]

I don't understand how Charlotte comes into play here?  They cannot be rivals if they are not similar. Tampa is the logical rival to Jax because it is on the West Coast of the same state, has the sun, beaches, alot of simliarities. Tampa has an edge obviously but the gap will get smaller & the rivalry should grow.

Charlotte??

[prahaboheme]

Honestly, does JAX really have a natural rival?  It doesn't seem so.

[kkpugh726]

Is this topic really neccessary.As long as Jacksonville continues to grow I could care less what Tampa or Charlotte are doing.