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Travel observations and new developments of other cities and countries


markhollin

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5 hours ago, donNdonelson2 said:

Tulsa, OK has an amazing stock of beautiful examples of Art Deco buildings. Perhaps the most in the country!

T Town! My Mom's hometown.....Grandad was in the oil business,,,big surprise!

Last time I was there was in 1992 for her 50th high school reunion (Tulsa Central).

I remember seeing the skyline off from a distance and being quite impressed given the size of the city.

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2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

You should visit Raleigh.  Their park and greenway system is one of the best in the southeast (and yes that includes instate rival Charlotte)  Great state museums all free NC Museum of Art in the suburbs,  2 museums downtown Natural History and NC History Museum.  Downtown is growing upward and an interesting fact many don't know is that the Raleigh Durham CMSA is larger than Nashville.  Try to visit the highest grossing largest restaurant in the state of NC the Angus Barn.  At half capacity it is 394  people!  I was just there 2 days ago here are a few photos.  Plus if you are like me (also have been to all 50 states) I am working on the state capitals and of course Raleigh is one.  Visit Durham home of Duke and completely reinvented itsself turning old tobacco warehouses and factories to office space for labs, tech start ups, etc.    first 2 photos from downtown Raleigh and last photo from North Hills the 2nd downtown of Raleigh which has 17-18 story office towers and a 35 story apartment tower under construction.    (highway system in Raleigh is great and a Rapid Bus Transit lines are now being developed)  Just head east I-40 to Raleigh.

 

 

 

The thing with Raleigh is that the booming economy is more naturally generated than Austin or Nashville. There's almost ZERO speculative venture capitalists in Raleigh so you'll never see wild development projects without some sort of signed tenant. Even Kane, Raleigh's most ambitious developer is very conservative with their projects.  This also hurts Raleigh's economy, last year there was a ton of HQ relocations and second HQ that Raleigh all lost to other cities. Raleigh won none of these projects even though it's a very qualified city to host these projects.  It's 100% a popularity contest and Raleigh is the girl next door than the starlet. 

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11 hours ago, carolina1792 said:

The thing with Raleigh is that the booming economy is more naturally generated than Austin or Nashville. There's almost ZERO speculative venture capitalists in Raleigh so you'll never see wild development projects without some sort of signed tenant. Even Kane, Raleigh's most ambitious developer is very conservative with their projects.  This also hurts Raleigh's economy, last year there was a ton of HQ relocations and second HQ that Raleigh all lost to other cities. Raleigh won none of these projects even though it's a very qualified city to host these projects.  It's 100% a popularity contest and Raleigh is the girl next door than the starlet. 

Raleigh and Wake County is growing faster than Charlotte or Nashville so believe me it is attracting jobs.  Lots of tech and lots of life sciences pharma jobs and there is plenty of spec office and lab type space available in the suburbs of Raleigh and in the Research Triangle Park.  Not as much spec office construction downtown and their market is fairly tight.  You will not see many large office towers start anywhere now unless they have an anchor tenant way too risky as companies reevaluating work from home options flexible work arrangements etc.  

 

11 hours ago, jmtunafish said:

Raleigh is a great town.  It's nowhere near as snooty as Chapel Hill and is more polished than Durham.  It's a very clean city that goes about its business without the braggadocio of its larger NC rival city.  My first job offer after college was in Raleigh.  If it had paid just a smidgeon more, I would've taken it and would probably still be there.

I think Raleigh and Winston-Salem are my favorite NC cities.  W-S oozes culture because of Wake Forest, the Moravian community, and of course the NC School of the Arts which has no equal in Tennessee.  The city is attractive, amazingly affordable and with zero traffic.  

I totally agree about Asheville.  The quirky and legitimately Bohemian Asheville of 20 years ago is now so over-the-top hipster, it's just obnoxious.  Central Asheville is nothing but a caricature of the hopelessly hip.  But I would take the Western North Carolina mountains over the East Tennessee mountains any day of the week.  

Asheville keeps it weird like Austin.  However the restaurants and breweries are great and the nearby scenery and attractions phenomenal so people keep coming to visit.  It is a great jumping off point to visit anywhere in western NC and the architecture is great downtown many buildings from the 1920s mixed in with some new.     Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge vs Asheville and I will choose Asheville any time despite the preponderance of hippies and hipsters LOL! 

 

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Asheville is a beautiful small city.  Real estate, tourism and property taxes have skyrocketed in recent years.  The biggest problem with Asheville and Western NC is the lack of well paying jobs. 
I prefer the NC side of the Smokies, however there is no doubt that the Tennessee side has always dominated  tourism with Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge Leading the way. 

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