Office Vacancy Rates Question

[TheArtist]

Those are also larger cities with the Denver metro 3x larger than the Tulsa metro and the Austin metro nearly 2x more populous.  They are also fast growing because they have a wide variety of jobs available, especially for those in a younger demographic (both have large tech sectors, the largest outside of the SF Bay Area and Seattle).  They are also in our region and an obvious target for local college graduates looking to still be close to Oklahoma (along with Dallas/Ft Worth and Houston, two of the largest and fastest growing metros in the country).  

Tulsa needs to focus on being the best it can while understanding that it's still a mid-sized city.  There won't be tons of high-paying jobs but there can be a good number of them, especially in industries that are already present in Tulsa including energy, aerospace, communications, tech and manufacturing.  Education is a big part of that equation and we need to do a much better job in that area, especially higher education.  I've already beaten that dead horse many times on this forum.  

Look at our current "competition" as far as similar-sized metros.  How is Tulsa doing compared to these cities, especially in downtown revitalization and the creation of new jobs?

50. Salt Lake City, UT
51. Rochester, NY
52. Grand Rapids, MI
53. Tucson, AZ
54. Honolulu, HI
55. TULSA
56. Fresno, CA
57. Bridgeport/Stamford, CT
58. Worcester, MA
59. Albuquerque, NM
60. Omaha, NE

Well I am somewhat familiar with Salt Lake and am quite impressed with their attention to rail and bus transit and transit oriented and pedestrian friendly development in their downtown.  They have had hundreds of new stores and restaurants.  Just some of the new "name brand" shops/restaurants that have moved into their downtown in only the past couple of years....

Nordstroms (they now have two)
H&M
Disney
Whole Foods (also have a large Harmons Grocery store downtown, also read they serve 1,000 lunches each weekday)
Macy's
Tiffany and Co
Apple Store
Crate and Barrel
Restoration Hardware
Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids
Williams-Sonoma
Chicos
Banana Republic
Bauers Eyeware
Clarks
Express/Express Men
Him
Godiva Chocolatier
Pandora
Texas de Brazil
Anthropologie
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Cheesecake Factory
Roxberry Juice Co.
Footlocker
Brooks Brothers
Boss Hugo Boss
Forever 21
Gap
J Crew
Porsche Design
Michael Kors
Vans
Cotton On
Go! Games and Toys
The Limited
Cache'
etc.
etc.
etc.

          I know those are all chains and some of us are not all excited about chains, but those are just a sampling of some of the more well known/name brand shops that have again, moved in within the last couple of years (not including hotels, banks, businesses, local shops and restaurants, etc.). There are LOTs more stores and such that they already have, plus a Movie Megaplex, several museums and performance venues, etc. One new retail/mixed use area downtown has averaged over 16million visitors per year.

Salt Lake City was recently ranked 4th in the nation for increase in population within 2 miles of downtown behind only Chicago, NYC, and Philadelphia. During the previous 10 years (ending in 1012) SLC's downtown added nearly 20,000 new residents.

 From an article, (my bold)...

"That's fantastic news," said Art Raymond, spokesman for Mayor Ralph Becker. He said the mayor has pushed for residential growth downtown because "of the important role it plays in initiatives that are important to him like walkable communities and efficient transit."

"It's a place to live and celebrate life," said downtown resident Frank Gray, the city's community and economic development director.

He says it was not always that way.

"When we came here five years ago, you could walk around downtown Salt Lake City on an evening and wonder where the people were. Now, it's alive. Businesses are open. People are on the street. Just in five years, it has changed tremendously," he said.

- See more at: http://www.downtownslc.org/community/acheivement-awards/item/1176-slc-among-top-in-downtown-residential-growth-sl-trib#sthash.KjJQaBSW.dpuf

Wish our mayor was pushing for that "stuff".

Oh, and here is the list for Tulsa's "name brand" shops/restaurants recently and during the similar time period...

Supercuts
Rib Crib
Anything I miss?


How we stacking up downtown/redevelopment wise?

[SXSW]

Salt Lake is a unique place.  Very much dominated by the LDS Church, which is largely responsible for City Creek Center where all of those stores are located.  It's a beautiful mall in the center of downtown.  It wouldn't be there without the LDS Church however, and the rail transit system is a relic of the '02 Olympics.  

I agree though that SLC should be what we should aspire to be, a growing mid-sized metro with a great quality of life.  Omaha is another city very similar in size and layout that is growing faster, and also doing a better job with urban development and infill.  I would like our next mayor to also agree that the city can be much better and do what it takes to get us there.  As I said great quality of life = more attractive climate for jobs = lower office vacancy = more vibrant core.

[Townsend]

Salt Lake is a unique place.  Very much dominated by the LDS Church, which is largely responsible for City Creek Center where all of those stores are located.  It's a beautiful mall in the center of downtown.  It wouldn't be there without the LDS Church however, and the rail transit system is a relic of the '02 Olympics.  

Our downtown churches are too busy wanting street level parking to mess with that kind of cra-cra.

[rdj]

... and the rail transit system is a relic of the '02 Olympics.  

So you are saying if Tulsa hosted the Olympics we get light rail???  Maybe we should look into that.