Unifour

Celeste, isn't that Hanover Buckhead? The one beside the theater? They are going to have an incredible view of the Buckhead skyline.

WOW Lady Celeste... that last photo you posted of the Midtown skyline looks awesome. The vibrant colors and clarity show more variety in the buildings than is normally seen. I can pick out Yoo and Azure also!

That 528 square miles number cannot possibly be correct. Virginia Beach alone has almost 250 square miles of land. The city of Chesapeake contains 341 square miles of land. Those two alone would exceed that number. That doesn't even include Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Suffolk, the other cities, and the 7 counties that are part of the MSA. The only explanation is that is the developed land area (built up area). The MSA total area is WAY larger than 528 square miles.

Peachtree at 17th is pretty elegant. Nice stylish tower. Midtown is so different than it used to be. I can't believe how much I like Azure. I hope it goes condo.

Thank you for responding. I did not intend to be nosy. It's just that I remember you so well from years ago. You were a prolific poster here in the Atlanta forums. It's such a same to see the forum a graveyard now. I used to have so much fun here and I learned so much about Atlanta. I intend to move to Atlanta eventually and invest in real estate so I participate in all the online forums regarding Atlanta. I was born in Va. and am very familiar with Nova. I hope you enjoy living there.

Boy it's been a lot of years since I was here... This forum used to be hopping... It seems so quiet now, even though Atlanta development is more exciting than ever. All these new proposals are really destroying those parking lots fast. By the way, has Lady Celeste left Atlanta?? She speaks of it as though she is elsewhere now...

It's amazing the amount of population Atlanta has added this decade. When one looks at where it was coming from as recently as 1990 and 2000, one cannot help but be astonished. Remember, in 1990 the famously undercounted census number was 394,017 and 2000 showed only a slim gain to 416,474. While the census clearly showed an acceleration in growth this decade, they were forced to continually revise the estimates in an effort to keep pace. First they showed only modest gains again, then several times upgraded by tens of thousands of people. It is astonishing that a city's fortunes can be reversed as much as Atlanta's have. From 416,474 in 2000, the city has skyrocketed to 540,921 according to the 2009 estimate. That is a gain of 124,500 people in NINE years! Also, we must remember that these are rough estimates and are usually undercounted. The census almost never OVERCOUNTS people. When you look at the MSA and CSA figures, it is equally astonishing given the economic troubles the nation has confronted. Atlanta still added a whopping 1.2 million people, from 4,247,000 to 5,475,000. Again, remember this is likely undercounted. The census showed metro Atlanta housed more than 200,000 more people than they estimated it would in 2000. More counties could be added in 2010, as they normally are for such a rapidly expanding area, so it's number could be significantly higher. And of course the lastest CSA estimate was 5,831,000, so you may as well get used to calling Atlanta a 6 million plus metro. It sure didn't take it long to get there either!

It will continue to gain new stores I am fairly certain. Of course no one can really know for sure what the econmic future holds, but Atlanta, now being a metropolis of 6,000,000 mostly wealthy people, has simply grown too large to ignore. The stores MUST cash in on the fast rising population. One can only wonder how much better Phipps can get or what terrific stores will locate in Streets of Buckhead, but this development I like far better than a "mall" type situation.

It appears Charlotte has finally joined the high-rise living trend full force with several new projects going up lately. I always figured it wouldn't take long for uptown to catch the wave. There has been an amazing revival of many American central cities over the past 15 years. St. Louis, Washington, Atlanta, and New York have enjoyed a complete reversal of fortunes in recent years with new developments and condos springing up all over town. Strangely, Charlotte never posted a population decrease while most American cities did, and now it's population has reached 700,000 in the central city-much larger than a lot of other major cities. More developments like these will follow to be sure, and I wonder if taller highrises will be the norm in Southend in the future-isn't Southend Charlotte's Buckhead?

Perhaps, but I only referred to the very central core of Buckhead. Some changes could occur to make it more gridlike. Streets are not eternal-NYC has erased streets and put them back before. It could happen in Atlanta. The residents of the present highrises and future highrises aren't living in single-family homes so they might not care either way and thier NIMBY tendency would be tempered by that, but yes, most of Atlanta residential areas will always be as it is. In any case, my post was only a WISH-it's not going to occur in any case.

The latest census figures for Georgia continue to show massive growth in the state, almost entirely dominated by the Atlanta region. Atlanta has recovered strongly from it's recent recession and again returns to near 3% a year growth. It looks like construction is picking up speed as well. It's nice to see all those high rises going up, but I'd like to see more beauty in the buildings (fat chance-Art Deco's gone) and the construction of a Buckhead street grid to make it an urban neighborhood. Curvilinear streets are great for secluded family living, but urban areas need a grid to look right; skyscrapers irregularly placed willy-nilly look a bit odd (no offense Atlanta). It could be done, midtown Manhattan was once fields and pastures-look what's there now.

Does anyone have any new numbers regarding the 2005-06 growth? The paper said 166,000 in one year, but I see no change to the 2005 figure of 4,917,717. The 2006 number is 5,138,000. Subtract the former from the latter and you get about 220,000. Has the 2005 figure been increased?

Not me, the central city population is irrelevant in today's metropolitan world. I only hope Atlanta doesn't fall for the watermelon environmentalist policies regarding density, transit oriented development, communter rail and so forth. Atlanta's high quality of life is due to it offering what most people desire-a good sized yard and nice homes and ever increasing consumer choices combined with successful pro-business policies which brings the jobs needed to raise the standard of living. Around the world, density is falling as people grow wealthier and move to bigger homes and bigger yards and drive thier own cars. Most people dislike cramped living and riding a hot smelly train crammed like sardines. Atlanta will probably fall for the environmentalist policies, but if they want to kill the capitalist goose that lays the golden eggs, they really will stop growing.

I was completely floored by the new population figures. Everyone thought Atlanta and Georgia had slowed for good after 2001 and the recession. However, the state continues it's blistering growth. The Atlanta metro has revved up it's growth to the highest figures ever recorded. The state of Georgia and metro Atlanta's incredible growth continues unabated after that minor bump in the road after 2001. However, I am curious how the paper got the statistic of 166,000 for the yearly growth? Unless they have increased the 2005 figure of 4,917,717, which I see no evidence of, Atlanta MSA grew by 221,000 and the CSA grew by 229,000. Some of this increase is due to the estimated 84,000 Katrina refugees, most of which went to the Atlanta area, but most of it is due to natural increase and migration. Without Katrina evacuees, the metro area would still have grown by 140,000. Either way, they are all truly phenomenal growth figures, and Atlanta will post another stellar increase in 2010. The city of Atlanta, which has climbed by a whopping 67,000 people from 2000 to 2005, still only represents less than 10% of the area total. The new 2005 figures for Fulton and Atlanta, following the last challenge and granted by the Census Bureau, are 934,000 for Fulton and 483,000 for Atlanta. The 2006 estimate for Fulton is 960,000. Some of the 2006 figure for Atlanta will be due to the recent annexations. In 2006, Atlanta annexed 2 neighborhoods in Fulton County, and 2 more in early 2007, while more annexations await approval. The 2006 annexations added 5,000 people and more territory to the city, and if the new applications are accepted, the estimated addition would be 17,000 people and several square miles of land. Without the annexations, the city still shows brisk growth, something most cities would kill for. All I say is GO, Atlanta, GO!

Many predict that Georgia and Atlanta won't be able to grow much more. They cite all kinds of studies, statistics, etc. to show how it will all come crashing down. It's all mostly nonsense. Water is usually held up as what will end Atlanta's long running high growth. Atlanta is one of the wetter metros in the U.S. It's rainfall far exceeds that of fast growing western cities. Atlanta has the springs, groundwater, and the Chattahooche and it's many creeks and tributaries to supply it. If it comes down to it, a desalination plant at the coast could be used which would pipe the water to Atlanta. There will be new technology by the time this is an issue. Most experts predict the area will grow to 9 million even with current water supply, notwithstanding new technology or conservation practices. Air pollution is also held up as a fear, without merit. Contrary to environmentalist claims, Atlanta's air is getting cleaner, not worse-it's out of compliance days have fallen over 2 decades. From here on out it is a very short leap to a city of 10 million. They say Rome wasn't built in a day, but Atlanta sure is trying-Rome is many centuries older than Atlanta, but Atlanta is almost twice as big as Rome already.

I have recently seen the updated census estimates for states and counties and what a shock they were. Georgia's massive growth is almost unbelievable. Georgia is adding a million residents every 5 years. Between 1990 and 2000, it grew from 6.4 million to 8.1 million, and has now grown to 9.3 million. It's incredible, and by 2010, the state could show to have added 2 million or more people. I think it is safe to say you will have then a state of 10 million or more. Atlanta's growth continues to boggle the mind. Few cities in world history have grown as fast as Atlanta has been growing since 1950. But even this is too long a window. Atlanta's growth has reached explosive proportions only since about 1970. The metro area has grown by more than 25% each decade since then-28% in the 70's, 33% in the 80's, and nearly 40% in the 90's. Since 2000, it has grown by more than 15% already, and these estimates are usually too low, as Atlanta almost always shows more people than they estimated. According to the AJC, the metro took 122 years to grow to a million from it's founding. It then took only 21 years to add another million to arrive at 2 million and 13 years to add another million to get to 3 million. It took only 7 years to add another million to get to 4 million and only 6 years to get to 5 million. Metro Atlanta now holds more than 5,100,000 people, and the CSA holds almost 5,500,000. It is amazing, and I think it is obvious that you will have a metropolis of 6,500,000 or near it by next census.

I love the shape of that first building. I think buildings that don't follow a boxy, square type of style have a greater visual appeal. However, to me, nothing will ever top the great Art Deco style, whether square or not.

Enjoyed the pictures of Richmond. I am from VA and lived there from birth till I was 22 years old. I never visited the capital city in that time I'm sorry to say. I love VA and will return home soon. I will have to get out to eastern VA to see all I didn't see then. I think a visit to Richmond is long overdue.

Because Norfolk has so much historic character, I'd really hate to see overwhelming high rise development here. I hope that the four churches are the centerpiece and are not overtaken by huge monolithic construction. I doubt they plan to do that, but hopefully they will choose properly scaled growth.

That looks just like I remember it when I was in New Orleans in 1995. It was terrible to watch what Katrina did to one of our most unique cities... Thank goodness the Garden District or the French Quarter didn't suffer too much. I do hope the city is able to recover fully, however. Maybe all this new construction will help it in attracting investment, which it sorely needed even before Katrina.

Most of the people that I know who have been through Charlotte tell me that it is a very nice, well kept, neat city. They say they love that about it. I think a city needs a little grit and ruggedness. I do think it's a mistake for everything to be the same. I hope the new developments such as this can become more creative in all aspects.

I think variety is good in a mall. I think SouthPark would like to be Charlotte's version of Phipps Plaza. I think Phipps is smaller, though. When is Macy's opening? They bought Hecht's, right?

Well, no one seems to have corrected the statistics, so in case anyone new reads this here goes... Fulton County challenged the Census Bureau's figures, and they won the challenge. Census updated Fulton County to 905,000 people and the city of Atlanta to 425,000 for 2004. They also updated the figures for most municipalities in Fulton County. Alpharetta and Roswell have added significant numbers of people since 2000, but I'm not sure what the actual numbers are. North Fulton continues to grow rapidly, although I imagine it is now spreading into Forsyth, as predicted, and it has slowed somewhat. Atlanta's economy is heating up yet again, and should be the main driver of Georgia's economic and job growth as it always is. During the 90's, Atlanta lead the nation in job growth.

Sorry to bring up a rather old topic again, but... I have trouble understanding people who differentiate a CSA and a MSA. The methods for them are slightly different, but they are still considered one region. That's what a CSA is, a COMBINED Statistical Area... Most of the major metros of the USA are CSA's. LA is combined with Ventura, Orange, and Riverside/San Bernadino. New York is combined with Long Island, Newark, Stamford, and Trenton. DC is with Baltimore. The list goes on. A CSA is considered ONE area.

How does REI compare to Patagonia? Are they on the same scale?