Georgia's Next Atlanta- Macon....

[jungletobacco]

Though smaller Savannah GA is a level above Augusta. It not a fall line city but its a GA coast city with I-95 going threw it. Savannah is all ready the next big city cause it has its idenity already. Augusta, Macon, Columbus- are still looking for theres.

In south carolina each city major city has it own feel. Each city know what the other cities has to offer. Greenville- Spartanburg, Columbia, and Charleston, each are neat city in thier own right.

[Savboy08]

I don't know what everyone elses thoughts are but it takes more than just the comparsion of pop. of course by now we all know that columbus and Augusta has a gained in pop over macon, but please what else other than pop can you find that makes these other cities more than macon. I think that the only thing that people can say about macon is it has a smaller pop.. because that the only down fall you can find about macon. if you check the current 2005-2006 us cities pop. charlotte, jacksonville but has a much larger pop than atlanta but atlanta is larger and has more going on than either of the two.... speed of these cities are all slow...and they all feel the same....and I-75 is not the only benefit to macon growth..... I agree with Georgia478 statement" to me Columbus cann't even be considered for anything .......hell Warner Robins seems more "alive" than there". So if you to compare these cities find someting more than just pop and what it feel like.... Example: Developments, corporations, and residenial and commerical growth..pop is not all that make a city. there are lot cities with a small pop but has much to offer.....don't let macon fool you.... because if cloumbus and augusta is larger if so macon its not much smaller and maybe it have already caught up so check the latest 2006 stats instead of 2000's stats because i'm sure there been a lot of change....

Here are some great facts to Compare about Macon:

Inc. magazine recently identified Macon as one of the Top 50 Small Metro Areas in the US.

Macon is the economic engine of Central Georgia.

Warner Robins Air Force Base is the largest employer in the state.

Macon, GA is #11 of the Top 15 Logistic Cities in the Southeast.

Macon is a community rich in history and culture, with an available and affordable workforce, state of the art technical training, four colleges and universities with over 30,000 students and over 1,200 acres of business and industrial parks.

Population of over 390,000 in a 30 mile radius.

Area is home to: Warner Robins Air Force Base, former Brown & Williamson Tobacco Manufacturer, Blue Bird School Bus Manufacturer, YKK Zipper Manufacturer, Boeing Aircraft Parts Manufacturer, IKON Office Solutions (processes lease payments), GEICO (insurance applications) BB&T Bank

Industry Week magazine rates Macon

[gah]

Why can't get a thread that discusses things that could be done in Georgia's other major cities to make them more attractive and desirable places to live in, instead of using comparisons to see who will do it first. They all have strengths and weaknesses. We need to actually talk about boosting the strengths and lessening the weaknesses to make them all successful. That is what I'd like to see. I don't want to imagine another "Atlanta" rising up and leaving the others in the dirt. This state needs more balance like the Carolinas, Florida, and several other model states. We don't need to be a state where the economy is dominated by 1-2 huge cities. In Ga., we already have the major cities. The question is, how can we maximize "their"(not just one) contribution to the state as a whole. Something must be done

[Savboy08]

Why can't get a thread that discusses things that could be done in Georgia's other major cities to make them more attractive and desirable places to live in, instead of using comparisons to see who will do it first. They all have strengths and weaknesses. We need to actually talk about boosting the strengths and lessening the weaknesses to make them all successful. That is what I'd like to see. I don't want to imagine another "Atlanta" rising up and leaving the others in the dirt. This state needs more balance like the Carolinas, Florida, and several other model states. We don't need to be a state where the economy is dominated by 1-2 huge cities. In Ga., we already have the major cities. The question is, how can we maximize "their"(not just one) contribution to the state as a whole. Something must be done

Well said! Think that we should all agree that each city has its own pros and cons and that trying to decide which is "better" or "faster" or whatever superlative you choose is really meaningless and loses sight of the bigger picture -- which is that each of the 2d-tier cities has the SAME "rival" -- Atlanta. The goal, as you say, is NOT to be the next Atlanta (which in many respects is a poster clhild for how NOT to grow/manage a city). Instead the collective goal should be to become the next great Georgia cities. Or better yet, the next great American cities. Your analogy to the balanced cities of SC and NC is apt. As well as TN, VA, AL, LA, TX, FL, KY, etc. Atlanta sucks up a disproportionate share financial/economic resources of this state. As long as the 2dtier cities fight among themselves over which should be recognized as a (very very distant) runnerup to Atlanta, Atlanta will continue to grow at all of their expenses. Frankly, I would not care if Macon, Augusta or Savannah becomes the NEXT great Georgia city, as long as Columbus (my hometown) is on the path to becoming a great Georgia city at some future time. We can debate whether Macon (with its excellant transportation facilities and geographic locale) is presently superior to Augusta (with its outstanding medical school and the Masters) or to Columbus (with its lousy highways but superb local corporate lineup). But that is all a waste of subjective speculation. All that matters objectively is that we ALL are in the same collective boat -- living off the crumbs at the kiddie table while Atlanta is sitting fat and happy by itself at the grown-up table!

[socaguy]

I don't know what everyone elses thoughts are but it takes more than just the comparsion of pop. of course by now we all know that columbus and Augusta has a gained in pop over macon, but please what else other than pop can you find that makes these other cities more than macon. I think that the only thing that people can say about macon is it has a smaller pop.. because that the only down fall you can find about macon. if you check the current 2005-2006 us cities pop. charlotte, jacksonville but has a much larger pop than atlanta but atlanta is larger and has more going on than either of the two.... speed of these cities are all slow...and they all feel the same....and I-75 is not the only benefit to macon growth..... I agree with Georgia478 statement" to me Columbus cann't even be considered for anything .......hell Warner Robins seems more "alive" than there". So if you to compare these cities find someting more than just pop and what it feel like.... Example: Developments, corporations, and residenial and commerical growth..pop is not all that make a city. there are lot cities with a small pop but has much to offer.....don't let macon fool you.... because if cloumbus and augusta is larger if so macon its not much smaller and maybe it have already caught up so check the latest 2006 stats instead of 2000's stats because i'm sure there been a lot of change....

Here are some great facts to Compare about Macon:

Inc. magazine recently identified Macon as one of the Top 50 Small Metro Areas in the US.

Macon is the economic engine of Central Georgia.

Warner Robins Air Force Base is the largest employer in the state.

Macon, GA is #11 of the Top 15 Logistic Cities in the Southeast.

Macon is a community rich in history and culture, with an available and affordable workforce, state of the art technical training, four colleges and universities with over 30,000 students and over 1,200 acres of business and industrial parks.

Population of over 390,000 in a 30 mile radius.

Area is home to: Warner Robins Air Force Base, former Brown & Williamson Tobacco Manufacturer, Blue Bird School Bus Manufacturer, YKK Zipper Manufacturer, Boeing Aircraft Parts Manufacturer, IKON Office Solutions (processes lease payments), GEICO (insurance applications) BB&T Bank

Industry Week magazine rates Macon?s workforce as the 21st most productive in the nation.

Macon serves as the center of industry, medicine, higher education and retail sales for a 22 county trade area. This area, with a population of more than 612,000, provides a broad, strong market for local business and industry.

Macon is accessible to three (3) interstate highways: I-75, I-475 and I-16, and is just 75 minutes from Atlanta.

Need More i can provide.....

[jungletobacco]

There is no point of competing with ATL....... why? When Atlanta is competing with cities like New York, Chicago and LA! I see it like this Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, tied up in a race for second but Macon has the inside track. I think its healthy competition between the second tier cities but people got to face the facts.

We will never have a leg-up on ATL in a million year

interstate 3 and 14 will help grow Georgia

Augusta and Macon are uncomparable at the time

[Savboy08]

There is no point of competing with ATL....... why? When Atlanta is competing with cities like New York, Chicago and LA! I see it like this Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, tied up in a race for second but Macon has the inside track. I think its healthy competition between the second tier cities but people got to face the facts.

We will never have a leg-up on ATL in a million year

interstate 3 and 14 will help grow Georgia

Augusta and Macon are uncomparable at the time

[krazeeboi]

Georgia's 2nd tier cities are going to have to get creative, and that will come by offering something that Atlanta doesn't. Savannah already does in several substantial ways (coastal location, urban fabric, historic architecture, port of Savannah), so I'm not sure what it's waiting for to take off. The other cities also have their advantages. As for Augusta, being home to MCG and a few institutions of higher learning should create a combination with a focus on biotech research (a highly competitive field no doubt, but you've got to start somewhere). Macon has advantages and appears to be poised to experience healthy growth. Columbus has some great buildings downtown that are perfect for adaptive reuse, and I know there are plans for its riverfront to be developed. It will pretty much all come down to quality of life. Invest in infrastructure (roads, education, etc.). Visit and learn from other places that have experienced success in target areas and actually implement those ideas. Foster regional cooperation. Focus on developing economic clusters. Encourage public/private partnerships. Market and promote attractions. Preserve the identity of the city through historic preservation. Emphasize open/public spaces. Create a sense of place, a place where people will just want to be. And last but not least, do all of this consistently.The goal shouldn't be to replicate Atlanta (which is impossible anyway), but to contribute to making Georgia a more well-rounded state.

[yerocal]

I agree none of the 2nd tier cities will or may not ever catch up with atlanta, but they all have lots of potential for some extreme growth.... Lets' be truth full here i under stand that columbus, augusta and savannh may or may not have larger pop than macon, but some of you on here look at like its so small Macon compared to other 2nd tier cities as if they are picturing for Example like the others cities are size of atlanta VS Athens or something. Yes they may be little bit larger but not by much, come on.... i tried of hearing about pop. My question to every who feels that Macon is so much smaller and so much behind any of the other cities, please can any one be specific about waht does the other 2nd tier have macon does not. Back to a earlier comment made" Savannah, Augusta, Columbus are tied up in a race for second but Macon has the inside track and Augusta and Macon are uncomparable at the time, this ludercris, let's be real all of these cities are comparable and put in the ranking group provide by local, state and goverment officals and that what counts... and also to the question,What is Macon's, (Including Warner Robins to be fair?) If we were to add Warner Robins pop is wouldn't be fair because if so then Macon/Waner robins Pop. would raise to about 200-300,000 and that is not true Warner Robins is still remains apart of Macon Metro area, they less that 15-20 minutes way by city limits, but they both a sprawled way over they borders and are about 2-3 miles from connecting.... Also Macon is experiencing a lot of extreme growth to north and the south and area as whole has un beleivable sprawls and growth as well....

SOUTH MACON

Lifestyle/"Strip Center" is under construction in South Macon just off of I-75 South on Hartley Bridge Road. Moon Family Properties is behind this 1.1 million sqft project. It will include 1,700 single family units, two to four story condos, and apartment community, retail, dinning, a midrise hotel, and office space.

NORTH MACON

One large big-box retailer (144,000 square feet), with 22 out-parcels around it.

Luxurious Restaurants, Hotels and Stores galore. Macon continues to crawl up I-75 toward Atlanta. The "Lullwater" development (at Bass Rd. & I-75) in Macon keeps getting larger in scale, plus developers are lining up to cram as many stores as possible at Bass Rd. & I-75...so here's a new topic to track the Bass Road explosion of growth.

Market place at bass project are well underway with negtations with a major national department store and five anchors

Lullwater Village is going to be Macon's first lifestyle center, which is planned to be modelled after The Avenue East Cobb, The Avenue West Cobb, and The Avenue Peachtree City. The twist is hotels and restaurants are also planned to be built at the site.

Of the 6 lifestyle centers that are currently under construction in Macon, this one is the largest. The Shoppes at River Crossing(new open air Mall) will be managed by Jim Wilson & Associates, the same company that manages Riverchase Galleria, Birmingham's largest mall. The new lifestyle center calls for 2 anchor stores, upscale specialty stores, restaurants and entertainment.The Shoppes at River Crossing.' Also, the development's retail space is a bit larger than the original estimate at around 1,000,000 sq. ft., which is about the size of a typical mall in Georgia.

The fact that this lifestyle center alone is so large is a pretty big deal when considering the other developments going up around it. North Macon's total new retail space count is up to 3.8 million square feet.

Northwest Macon is now under development. Interestingly, like Lullwater, this one brings another cool twist: it's a mixed use community.125,000 sq. ft. of retail will be introduced, which should bring total retail space of the Zebulon Rd./I-475 area over the 1 million mark, along with 300 upscale garden apartment units.

The new Beall's Hill project will be a mixed-use, mixed-income pedestrian friendly community. The Beall's Hill project is the largest of its kind in the state outside Atlanta.

DOWNTOWN

An entire city block in the heart of downtown is about to be redeveloped into retail stores, offices and 7 luxury condominuims.

development of the new hotel downtown the hotel should be a Highrise 12-20 stories something similar to the Crowne plaza

Georgia Heart Center currently under constructions a 9-10 story mid rise extention to Medical center, which is the 2nd largest hospital in the state, which grady mem hospital is the largest in atl.

Proposed Development:

Wild adventure wanting to build in South Macon Area, Macon Eyed for a theme park Construction

Georgia DOT gets closer to finally selecting a plan for the I-75/I-16 interchange downtown,I-75 will be 9 lanes at its widest point and I-16 will be 12 lanes at its widest point, Downtown streets and bridges will also be reconstructed across I-16...Coliseum Drive will be widened to 6 lanes and Second Street will be widened to 6 lanes.

After researching development of all kind in all the 2nd tier cities, It funny that some one would say that Savannah, Augusta, Columbus are tied up in a race for second but Macon has the inside track and Augusta and Macon are uncomparable at the time. Also it wouldn't be fair so that is why I DIDN"T EVEN INCLUDE THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN WARNER ROBINS......

Need more i can provide.... now that comparison, it look like macon make up for it LOW pop. with growth..

[yerocal]

A reply to Savboy08 Posted Yesterday, 11:30 AM

Warner Robins is not becoming independent or developing it own metro, it really still Macon's metro it only less than 15-20 away and macon & warner robins are so close their sprawls are starting to connnect and this is not a of boastings about population area which has more than 612,000 people" and

population of over 390,000 in a 30 mile radius" this information was provided by the researchers and developers of the New open air mall project in Macon, it's not like i made it up, you need to tell that to the developer....they printed it, i just quote what they reasearched.....

[Savboy08]

A reply to Savboy08 Posted Yesterday, 11:30 AM

Warner Robins is not becoming independent or developing it own metro, it really still Macon's metro it only less than 15-20 away and macon & warner robins are so close their sprawls are starting to connnect and this is not a of boastings about population area which has more than 612,000 people" and

population of over 390,000 in a 30 mile radius" this information was provided by the researchers and developers of the New open air mall project in Macon, it's not like i made it up, you need to tell that to the developer....they printed it, i just quote what they reasearched.....

[westendatl]

^ Yeah, I was going to mention that about the hospital thing. I think we have more doctors per capita than any other town down South except Memphis and Durham. We're like the hospital town. Same thing with the malls--we had two million square foot malls back in the 80s; people just started dying at one of the malls so they closed it. Now we have one.

Yerocal, I hate to tell you (and I wish I could say otherwise) but that high speed rail isn't coming anytime soon. Look at the governor listed in the article (Roy Barnes)---he and the Dems are gone, along with any chance of rail---although they might widen I-75 to about 20 lanes.

[westendatl]

A reply to Savboy08 Posted Yesterday, 11:30 AM

Warner Robins is not becoming independent or developing it own metro, it really still Macon's metro it only less than 15-20 away and macon & warner robins are so close their sprawls are starting to connnect and this is not a of boastings about population area which has more than 612,000 people" and

population of over 390,000 in a 30 mile radius" this information was provided by the researchers and developers of the New open air mall project in Macon, it's not like i made it up, you need to tell that to the developer....they printed it, i just quote what they reasearched.....

[socaguy]

Im sure as they grow together they will be combined again. Hopefully at least. Its interesting how these two neighboring cities have such a huge difference in growth rates. Warner Robins is booming in population and employment while Macon seems stagnet with the lowest job creation rates in the state this year, (projected)!

[westendatl]

Any growing, successful city is going to be full of transplants looking for a better life and better opportunities; Atlanta provides that and you're an example of that as far as education is concerned. Attracting lots of people hardly means the city has "no identity." It's got one, although it may not be your particular ideal of what a positive identity for a Southern city is.

[teshadoh]

Im sure as they grow together they will be combined again. Hopefully at least. Its interesting how these two neighboring cities have such a huge difference in growth rates. Warner Robins is booming in population and employment while Macon seems stagnet with the lowest job creation rates in the state this year, (projected)!

[dougtha1]

It depends - & you really need to consider if it would be a good thing if Warner Robins & Macon's urbanized areas consolidated. But otherwise, as long as people in Warner Robins primarily work in Warner Robins, Warner Robins will be it's own MSA. It would take a significant suburban growth spurt to conjoin the two.

[dougtha1]

Im sure as they grow together they will be combined again. Hopefully at least. Its interesting how these two neighboring cities have such a huge difference in growth rates. Warner Robins is booming in population and employment while Macon seems stagnet with the lowest job creation rates in the state this year, (projected)!

[socaguy]

Dougtha1, it was in an article from (I think) the Augusta Chronicle a few weeks ago. It talked about stagnant job growth in all of Georgias mid-level cities (Augusta included) but it did say Macons would be the least to create new jobs. I was suprised to see that too, especially about Augusta since it is creating jobs left and right, and with thousands of jobs just recently announced. Most of those wont be until 2008 though.

[poohsfolks]

Dougtha1, it was in an article from (I think) the Augusta Chronicle a few weeks ago.

[dougtha1]

Here's a link to the article, courtesy Jacksonville.com

[socaguy]

I wouldnt worry too much we are all in the same boat and Warner Robbins with its rapid growth is still considered part of the Macon MSA (at least in my book!).

[yerocal]

I wouldnt worry too much we are all in the same boat and Warner Robbins with its rapid growth is still considered part of the Macon MSA (at least in my book!).

[westendatl]

socaguy and yerocal;you guys are just trying to keep my blood pressure high!LOL.If you talk to people who actually have bought a home and decided to stay in W.R. They are very proud to live in W.R. and not Macon.Personally, I as a single male would pick downtown living in Macon easily over Warner Robins even though i grew up there.Macon has a serious image problem with its surrounding communities.Mainly due to crime ,and assumed or real it does'nt matter.Until they address this image problem as they have with the improved renovations and revamping of its physical pressence.A large and vocal poulation from W.R. will continue to want to have a separate idenity.Besides you forget that just as a significant amount of people travel from W.R go to Macon for work. Many people from Macon work in Warner Robins AND ATLANTA.I hope Macon and Warner Robins will work more together to attract more manufacturing jobs.Macon has been dealt a blow with the loss of several thousands of jobs.Someone said eailier that Blue Bird was in Macon.Thats incorrect.Thats in Fort Valley. Also ,Robins AFB is apart of Warner Robins MSA not Macon.Thats why it is its own MSA .

[dougtha1]

socaguy and yerocal;you guys are just trying to keep my blood pressure high!LOL.If you talk to people who actually have bought a home and decided to stay in W.R. They are very proud to live in W.R. and not Macon.Personally, I as a single male would pick downtown living in Macon easily over Warner Robins even though i grew up there.Macon has a serious image problem with its surrounding communities.Mainly due to crime ,and assumed or real it does'nt matter.Until they address this image problem as they have with the improved renovations and revamping of its physical pressence.A large and vocal poulation from W.R. will continue to want to have a separate idenity.Besides you forget that just as a significant amount of people travel from W.R go to Macon for work. Many people from Macon work in Warner Robins AND ATLANTA.I hope Macon and Warner Robins will work more together to attract more manufacturing jobs.Macon has been dealt a blow with the loss of several thousands of jobs.Someone said eailier that Blue Bird was in Macon.Thats incorrect.Thats in Fort Valley. Also ,Robins AFB is apart of Warner Robins MSA not Macon.Thats why it is its own MSA .