Are the Millennials Driving Downtown Corporate Relocations?

[duvaldude08]

Can you believe I went in walmart to find cassettes for my cassette player and they did not have any??? The Nerve (humph!) 

[peestandingup]

what's really interesting is that my grandparents are very fond of Downtown and they want to see it come back to life. They love telling me stories of their date nights Downtown in the 1950's and all they could do with $3.00. I think there is a generation between my grandparents and mine, that doesnt really care too much about the Downtown.

Yup. A lot of the Boomer generation took a giant crap on this stuff & traded urban walkable connected living for sprawling suburban car-centric crap. Ugh.

[duvaldude08]

I just spoke with my friend that works for BCBS of Michigan about their move to DT and she is excited about it. She also said they got a free People Mover pass. We had a long talk about Downtown Jacksonville (because she is from here) and Ive been updating her on everything that has been happening.

One thing she mentioned is that Detriot transportation sucks. Its much worse than JTA. They have some type BRT bus system, but she says the buses are always like two hours late (and they are supposed to run every 15 minutes) and that the people mover is similar to the skyway... Goes no where to no where.

[urbanlibertarian]

I'm a 53 yr old freak livin the dream in the Cathedral district since '03.  It took 23 years of commuting into DT and the royal pain of doing yardwork every weekend 8 months of the year to finally make me realise that there has to be a better way.

[Dashing Dan]

In "Miracle on 34th Street," the "miracle" is that the baby boomer kid (played by Natalie Wood) gets to move out of Manhattan and into the suburbs (sorry if I gave away the ending).

[ProjectMaximus]

Just going on record that I'm one of those people in their 50's who is totally onboard with urban living.

Now if someone could just help me program my VCR...

What's a VCR? 

I think it's an SUV from Honda...

[thelakelander]

One thing she mentioned is that Detriot transportation sucks. Its much worse than JTA. They have some type BRT bus system, but she says the buses are always like two hours late (and they are supposed to run every 15 minutes) and that the people mover is similar to the skyway... Goes no where to no where.

I'm pretty familiar with Detroit and their transit system.  I think its a stretch to say their system is worse than what we have here.  Nevertheless, let your friend know that her area of town will soon have light rail.  The first phase of their Downtown to 8 Mile line down Woodward is supposed to break down later this year.

http://www.woodwardlightrail.com/HomeNew.html

[tg]

To answer the original question, I think Millennials are driving the downtown corporate relocations. I'm 21 and I want to live and work downtown, and I plan to once I graduate. We want convenience, and downtown living and working provides such a thing because everything is within walking distance. I know many of my friends feel the same way, we've grown up in the suburbs and see the city as a place for opportunity and great experiences. The Everbank deal is great, and I hope there are more moves to bring more corporate offices downtown and strengthen it.

[Kiva]

I think the Millennials deserve a lot of credit for this. But there are also people, like me, who are in their 40s and 50s who grew up in the suburbs but now want to live much closer to downtown. We recently moved to Springfield and love it. We just need more events and restaurants downtown - things are getting better but it will take time.

[Tacachale]

The tastes of younger workers may be one of the influences on those companies that do decide to relocate to downtowns. But I still don't think the numbers indicate a sea change in where companies are going in general. It remains to be seen what will happen once the economy picks up.

[duvaldude08]

Well I know Im a young guy and I have been working on the southbank for almost six years now. Before I came here I was working at BCBSFL. I could not IMAGINE wokring in the suburbs again. Working DT gives you more a corporate feel and you also appreciate DT alot more. I thinking of checking into Chruchwell or Berkman when my current lease is up. I want to be downtown. If all esle fails, maybe springfield