urbanSTL

I really got to know Nashville a few years ago when I almost moved there. After visiting there last year I can see where transplants in the last decade could be souring at least a bit on it's rising cost of living, party hearty downtown, and lack of transit and other urban planning. 

It's become the "It" city for bachelor/bachelorette parties for much of the US. That can get annoying at times. If I lived there I'd probably avoid downtown from Thu-Sun

Honestly upon visiting Memphis last weekend I came away with a new found appreciation of that city after previously viewing it as sub-par compared to it's boomtown a coupe of hours to the east. 

Sure you can tour the Ryman in downtown Nashville but that doesn't compare to the National Civil Rights Museum. And if you want to escape the madness of Lower Broadway there aren't any cool nabes to walk to while South Main in Memphis offers a nice respite from Beale Street. Sure there's East Nashville but that requires a car/Uber, and Cooper/Young in Memphis is a similar distance to their downtown as Five Points is from downtown Nashville. 

The Gulch?

Yeah I guess I forgot about the Gulch. And there's also Germantown--where I stayed when I used to frequent the city. 

Overall both Memphis and Nashville don't have the same neighborhood bones a city like STL does. I used to think of Germantown as a Soulard with with about half the density. I imagine it has gotten denser over the past decade with more high rises. 

In short I do like Nashville, just think it's a bit overrated. 

Baltimore Jack wrote: ↑

Apr 22, 2023

I really got to know Nashville a few years ago when I almost moved there. After visiting there last year I can see where transplants in the last decade could be souring at least a bit on it's rising cost of living, party hearty downtown, and lack of transit and other urban planning. 

It's become the "It" city for bachelor/bachelorette parties for much of the US. That can get annoying at times. If I lived there I'd probably avoid downtown from Thu-Sun

Honestly upon visiting Memphis last weekend I came away with a new found appreciation of that city after previously viewing it as sub-par compared to it's boomtown a coupe of hours to the east. 

Sure you can tour the Ryman in downtown Nashville but that doesn't compare to the National Civil Rights Museum. And if you want to escape the madness of Lower Broadway there aren't any cool nabes to walk to while South Main in Memphis offers a nice respite from Beale Street. Sure there's East Nashville but that requires a car/Uber, and Cooper/Young in Memphis is a similar distance to their downtown as Five Points is from downtown Nashville. 

I agree, as someone who was oddly just in Memphis last weekend myself as well.

Things fall off quickly east of downtown, of course.  Then come back once you hit east Memphis.  But spent an entire weekend just walking around downtown and had a blast.  Hit Old Dominick, a bunch of places for bites, some really positive, encouraging infill on the south riverfront.  Overall a great time vs when I was there last, probably 5 years ago.  Didn't even need a car, or even the trolley.

Every time I drive through Nashville, it's just weird, there are no residential areas like we have here going through 70, 64, 44 or 55 through the city, even through the suburbs too.  I haven't spent a lot of time in Nashville proper, but plan to eventually.  But the lure of bachelor/bachelorette parties isn't really my cup of tea anyways (my wife rec's east Nashville anyways, though in her opinion it has soured as well).  To which I wholeheartedly agree with your later comment on the neighborhood bones.  You can tell we're an old city that was diced up, rather than a new city with hidden residential.

https://x.com/aviationstl/status/169123 ... 9OqINnkYxA

Nashville named southwest crew base

Big plans to transform Nashville's East Bank:

https://www.archpaper.com/2024/02/nashv ... 3BO7QRG2IK

It's fascinating to me how a place like Nashville can transform so rapidly and build whole urban districts from scratch. It shows what's possible when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Nashville doesn't even have near the assets of St. Louis and they're doing amazing things.

It helps when Nashville is adding 24 presidents a day and the metro area is adding 100 per day.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2024

It helps when Nashville is adding 24 presidents a day and the metro area is adding 100 per day.

Well people go to cities with a grand vision. I guess it's kind of a chicken and egg thing. St. Louis needs a bold regional vision. A kickstart if it wants to grown again.

It would have been nice if Missouri would have kept the state capitol in St. Charles and created a bit of a twin cities-type phenomenon between St. Louis and St. Charles. 

Imagine a much larger St. Louis city and St. Louis County, with a much more urban St. Charles city and County across the river as well. It would have been awesome. 

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2024

It helps when Nashville is adding 24 presidents a day and the metro area is adding 100 per day.

Dang. That's a lot of presidents.

Nashvilles rental market is also crashing because they’ve overbuilt

goat314 wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2024

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2024

It helps when Nashville is adding 24 presidents a day and the metro area is adding 100 per day.

Well people go to cities with a grand vision. I guess it's kind of a chicken and egg thing. St. Louis needs a bold regional vision. A kickstart if it wants to grown again.

I've seen this sentiment repeated multiple times, including in the PD and from Greater STL. What does this actually mean? What evidence do we have that "bold regional visions" is what attracts people to cities?

The Koreas will merge before St Louis re-enters St Louis County. Years ago I said East and West Germany would merge…


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Call me miserable, negative, grumpy etc, but I spent some time recently in Nashville, my first visit in eight years and a lot has changed even in that time, the skyline changes itself are eye opening, although I do find them a little bit deceptive. Theres no denying at all it has things going for it and mega money is being piled in. It however felt a bit soulless to me and really not my cup of tea - excessive gentrification and I could have been in Charlotte, Austin etc and not noticed. The other side is Downtown is so heavily dominated by lower Broadway that as a local I can't imagine its attractive as a local to be constantly surrounded by bachelor(ette) and college parties whilst paying nine dollars for a domestic beer. To me its important that the core of my city has a connection to its local population and Downtown Nashville just feels like a glorified tourist resort. I did try to head to some outerlying parts of Downtown like Printers Alley, towards the State buildings and down towards the river to see if there was much life Downtown beyond the party strip and a lot of those areas were quiet with a number of surface lots and abandoned properties. I just think from an urban perspective its all its cracked up to be. 

Horses for courses I guess.

Nashville is successful because so many people move there. Many move there because they spend a fun weekend in their great downtown and it's added to their shortlist of places they would consider moving.

With the right focus on downtown, STL can replicate this to an extent. Except we have a fundamentally better city (urban form, transit, parks, culture) that will actually keep them around. Check out r/Nashville, it's crazy how many people HATE their city and want to leave, and for completely different reasons than STL.

Unfortunately half the region believes we should just give up on downtown, so that probably won't happen anytime soon. People will continue to visit us and feel underwelmed.

TheWayoftheArch_V2.0 wrote:Sheesh, Gary, easy with the overt auditioning for Donnybrook...

I think its possible well before the peninsula is reunited. 

We were all as hopeful and optimistic as you in 1976. But the ghosts of 1876 rule. Good luck before 2076. I think city back in the county is step one for us to compete with a Nashville or Oklahoma City.

We leave so much city and county home assessed wealth on the table compared to, say Minneapolis, because we’d rather be split and poor.


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framer wrote: ↑

Feb 29, 2024

Big plans to transform Nashville's East Bank:

https://www.archpaper.com/2024/02/nashv ... 3BO7QRG2IK

Hey look! riverfront development that does not involve low job density industrial! With 18+ miles of riverfront you think we could find room for this... oh, and stop parking freaking cars on the levy

beer city wrote: ↑

Mar 26, 2024

framer wrote: ↑

Feb 29, 2024

Big plans to transform Nashville's East Bank:

https://www.archpaper.com/2024/02/nashv ... 3BO7QRG2IK

Hey look! riverfront development that does not involve low job density industrial! With 18+ miles of riverfront you think we could find room for this... oh, and stop parking freaking cars on the levy

hey look that's a river that didn't breach Major flood stage 4 times in last 10 years and those 4 are in the top 10 in the history of the river in stl or breach flood stage 36 times since 2000.