Shreveport, Jackson and Little Rock

[dimebag1980]

Smallest metro with a Cheesecake Factory too, for whatever that is worth. It's a nice feather in the cap, but I'm more of an urban-downtown type guy.

Holy crud... an Apple store and a Cheesecake Factory? And no, I'm not being sarcastic, I'm seriously impressed! When the Louisiana Boardwalk came along, I hoped we'd wind up with a Cheesecake Factory, but in the end it seems we're getting a Copeland's Cheesecae Bistro. Not too bad, since I love the Copeland's we already have, and I know the cheesecake part of it will make it that much more desirable... but if I want anything from Cheesecake Factory, I have to buy it in the forzen foods section of my nearest supermarket... or else drive to Dallas!

[dimebag1980]

And Brian, I'm glad to hear about the possibility of the Red River becoming navigable up to Texarkana! Though parts of the Red River are very shallow around Texarkana, and sandbanks are everywhere.

Yes, that's the challenge. But we have the sandbars here and the water used to be shallow here as well. The Corps of Engineers built rock jetties along the sides of the river to force the water through a "tunnel" in the river, thus forcing the water to cut into the riverbed, deepening the river. And of course they'll have to build locks & dams north of Shreveport as well.

[dimebag1980]

Hey, Jackson has now been represented! Someone voted for it.

[Spartan]

The Georgia Ports Authority recognized Columbus as a port city as well as Bainbridge (I think), so ports that far inland are not completely unheard of. I would expect that Baton Rouge would pick up a great deal of the slack, but I think that without knowing the hard facts- it is probably not prepared to handle all of New Orleans's traffic, which is why Texarkana, and Shreveport or whatever are being tapped. They all have access to the Mississippi River, which is key. I do wonder what kind of capacity they are capable of though, given that most traffic probably went to New Orleans.

[johnnydr87]

Baton Rouge has a much bigger capacity than the places listed. It would go something like this for Arkansas and Louisiana: New Orleans > Baton Rouge > Little Rock > Shreveport > Fort Smith > Texarkana (if ever gets built).

Baton Rouge is the city highest up the Mississippi River which can still support huge, ocean barges. Like, the giant oil tankers and cargo ships. That already puts it at an advantage over any non-coastal port in the nation. In New Orleans, the Mississippi is ~200 feet deep. I'm guessing at Baton Rouge it is still 100+ deep.

[Spartan]

How much time does it take to reach the gulf from BR via the river?

[Spartan]

Here are the UA stats. Little Rock is not as substantially larger than the other two as I thought, but its still 70,000 larger than Jackson.

Jackson, MS Urbanized Area - 292,637

Little Rock, AR Urbanized Area - 360,331

Shreveport, LA Urbanized Area - 275,213

[Aporkalypse]

Here are the UA stats. Little Rock is not as substantially larger than the other two as I thought, but its still 70,000 larger than Jackson.

Jackson, MS Urbanized Area - 292,637

Little Rock, AR Urbanized Area - 360,331

Shreveport, LA Urbanized Area - 275,213

One thing about Little Rock, there are a lots of desirable trendy neighborhoods - the Heights, Hillcrest, Quapaw Quarter, and Riverdale - within a few miles of downtown. These areas that, excepting the Quapaw Quarter, have always been very nice and upscale. While there has been flight in LR to a degree, it has not affected LR the way it did with Jackson, so luring residents back wasn't a problem when the push to revitalize downtown started.

In addition, Little Rock's major companies - Alltel, Dillard's, Acxiom, Stephens Inc, etc have been located downtown or just adjacent to it and never fled to suburbia. With the jobs remaining in the CBD area, the residential aspect of downtown has been able to push.

Shreveport was in a funk for a while and was late getting on the Mid-South downtown renovation bandwagon Memphis led and Little Rock jumped quickly on but it is really on a roll now and I think it can do a lot with what it's already started. Jackson's the city that's ready for this to happen but really needs some sparks to start the downtown fire.

[bigboyz05]

Yes, that's the challenge. But we have the sandbars here and the water used to be shallow here as well. The Corps of Engineers built rock jetties along the sides of the river to force the water through a "tunnel" in the river, thus forcing the water to cut into the riverbed, deepening the river. And of course they'll have to build locks & dams north of Shreveport as well.

Brian, when the Red River becomes navigable I have no doubts that Texarkana and Shreveport will experience an even bigger building boom than what's going on now.

[NCB]

To answer some of the Baton Rouge questions..

Baton Rouge is actually already prepared to handle New Orleans' cargo again if necessary. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge had to pick up nearly all of the Port of New Orleans' slack after Katrina for quite some time, and it did a great job with all of it, with no major problems, setbacks, or other problems. Baton Rouge is a deep-river port, so it can handle the exact same traffic that New Orleans gets.

I should have made this more clear in my previous post, but the Port of South Louisiana is basically New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the cities on the river in between. The ports work with each other very often, and are similar in many ways. I don't know the exact numbers, but Baton Rouge is one of the busiest and largest inland ports in the country, and activity at the port of B.R. has been greatly increasing over the last few years.

Here is a quote from the Port's website:

The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is strategically located on the Mississippi River and is an integral part of the Louisiana maritime industry and overall economy. Handling a diverse range of cargo and accommodating special requests is a trademark of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, and we have proof: the Port of Greater Baton Rouge ranks among the top ten ports in total tonnage.

[jamieh]

Jackson, Mississippi

[johnnydr87]

Jackson, Mississippi

Great pics....

My only gripe is that they've been colorized....

[jamieh]

Great pics....

My only gripe is that they've been colorized....

Unfortunately, there aren't many pics of Jackson on the net. Was the best I could come up with.

[bigboyz05]

Thanks for the pics! They're nice.

[tombarnes]

Nice pics. I'll have to see what I can find for Jackson. With reference to signature towers, Jackson had its chance a few years ago with WorldCom. Unfortunately, the city administration blew their chance for a tower and WorldCom built a squat headquarters campus in nearby Clinton. Of course, the Ebbers/WorldCom implosion woldn't have helped matters. Jackson may well see the construction of a number of mid-rise towers, but I doubt anything in the nature of a very tall "signature" tower will be built in the near future. One never knows. Jackson's downtown is, however, on the verge of a renaissance. Maybe some of the money that's floated out to Madison, Ridgeland and Flowood will resurface downtown.

[vbfl85]

You could have included Memphis and Baton Rouge to get a regional perspective. The sad thing is it would still be a fair comparison even though the populations are significantly different. I would still vote Little Rock.

[dimebag1980]

You could have included Memphis and Baton Rouge to get a regional perspective. The sad thing is it would still be a fair comparison even though the populations are significantly different. I would still vote Little Rock.

No doubt, Little Rock would still win. And it's extremely impressive, given the population differences between Little Rock and Memphis, that Little Rock would beat it out.

[sleepy]

No doubt, Little Rock would still win. And it's extremely impressive, given the population differences between Little Rock and Memphis, that Little Rock would beat it out.

Well, Little Rock indeed has one of the nicest looking skylines for a city its size. I would say that the only other city of medium size, that could rival it would be Des Moines (metro c. 600,000).

As far as Memphis goes, while Little Rock has some taller and newer buildings, Memphis can't be beat for its old school density.

[NCB]

As far as Memphis goes, while Little Rock has some taller and newer buildings, Memphis can't be beat for its old school density.

I agree, I would have to give Memphis the edge over Little Rock because of its' density. I love the "old school density" in Memphis, its always reminded me somewhat of what you find in New Orleans.

[dimebag1980]

I agree, I would have to give Memphis the edge over Little Rock because of its' density. I love the "old school density" in Memphis, its always reminded me somewhat of what you find in New Orleans.

No doubt. The first photo even resembles New Orleans, with the dense streetscape and the street car.

[richyb83]

I was suprised to find out that Memphis has a second skyline on the east-side of the city. One high-rise tower was 34 stories, and another at least 25. Stick those in the Memphis CBD and see what you'd get ?

[bluff2085]

If Memphis had one taller building in the middle of the CBD (40 stories maybe), it would probably lose its "underdog status" (reference to another thread). This probably won't happen. BUT-- we do have two buildings, one at 28 stories and the other at 27 stories, about to go up in the southern portion of downtown!

[bluff2085]

I was suprised to find out that Memphis has a second skyline on the east-side of the city. One high-rise tower was 34 stories, and another at least 25. Stick those in the Memphis CBD and see what you'd get ?

East Memphis is where you're more likely to find the next office high rise. I've heard that vacancy rates in E. Memphis are ten percentage points lower than vacancy rates downtown. But I guess you can never REALLY predict where the next one's gonna go.

[papa_spaz]

Baton Rouge has a much bigger capacity than the places listed. It would go something like this for Arkansas and Louisiana: New Orleans > Baton Rouge > Little Rock > Shreveport > Fort Smith > Texarkana (if ever gets built).

If you were comparing Louisiana to Arkansas cities it would be this: New Orleans> Baton Rouge> Shreveport> Little Rock> Metarie, LA> Lafayette, LA> Fort Smith, AK> Kenner, LA> Lake Charles, LA> . Kinda of a unfair comparison seeing how Louisiana has a state population twice the amount as Arkansas.

[johnnydr87]

If you were comparing Louisiana to Arkansas cities it would be this: New Orleans> Baton Rouge> Shreveport> Little Rock> Metarie, LA> Lafayette, LA> Fort Smith, AK> Kenner, LA> Lake Charles, LA> . Kinda of a unfair comparison seeing how Louisiana has a state population twice the amount as Arkansas.

I was comparing ports....

I sort of consider Metairie and Kenner to be part of New Orleans.

I guess Lake Charles has a port. Never thought of it.

Pine Bluff, Arkansas, has a port...now that I think of it.