Battle of the three 2nd tier cities: Toledo, Dayton, Akron

[midwest1]

Originally Posted by Karl Lagos

It's 54 miles between the 2 downtowns. The connection between Cincy and Dayton is really once you get north of 275 in Cincy. From West Chester up to Dayton it's a really short drive especially to 675 Centerville.
There are companies, law firms that have an office in this area and they can call it their Dayton or Cincy office.

I've often pointed this out on this forum, it was only in the 1990 census that Hamilton/Middletown...Butler County, ceased being recognized as an independent metropolitan area. It is not just Cincy and Dayton merging in the CBD Metroplex.

Middletown is starting to really grow. In the last few years according to the Census, it has moved from 17 to 15th largest city in Ohio, passing Lakewood and Cuyahoga Falls.

The best analogy for this emerging top-20 Metro area is the Wasatch Front or Miami-Ft.Lauderdale, an interconnected linear Metro. Btw. In the Journal-News today, an article highlighted a new Whole Foods and nearly 400 multi-family units in a mixed-use development in Liberty Township. The B, as it has for decades. Is growing faster than the C or D...stitching all three together at a rapid pace.

[PerryMason614]

Originally Posted by midwest1

Middletown is starting to really grow. In the last few years according to the Census, it has moved from 17 to 15th largest city in Ohio, passing Lakewood and Cuyahoga Falls.

Is Middletown growing or are the other places shrinking? Middletown is a dump!

[midwest1]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

Is Middletown growing or are the other places shrinking? Middletown is a dump!

Middletown is not a dump. It has suffered its share of difficulties but is at about it's highest population with tons of new development. Years ago the city had the highest percentage of section 8 housing in Ohio. After years of nego, the city struck a deal with HUD to slash the number of vouchers in the city in half.

That was the key for the revitalization you are now seeing. The restaurant/bar scene in particular has really exploded in the last few years.

Cracked Pot Creperie (amazing!!)
primo Italian Steakhouse (considered as good as any in Cincy/Dayton)
Combs BbQ, ranked Ohio's best bbq joint
Brett's Smokin Butts BBQ
Mz. Jades Soul Food (she just opened a second location in Sharonville
Cancun's
The Meadows, gourmet Chinese, along with steaks/salmon and ridiculous desserts
N.E.W. Ales Brewery
Gravel Road Brewery, a new brewery that just opened
Fig Leaf Brewery
White Dog Distillery
Taku Japanese Steakhouse.
Hectors Taco Shop
Shaddocks Pizza
The Jug, a century-old amazing burger joint
House of Hunan, one of the best Chinese joints I've come across
Irie Smoothies just opened and is crazy popular
And my favorite...
ElGrillo, an authentic family-owned Mexican joint that does a Pozole as good as anything I ever had in my three years in Guadalajara.

Not bad for a city derided as a dump by folks like you.

The housing market in Middletown is about as hot as anywhere in Ohio. Some 600 luxury apartments are either under construction or in the pipeline near 75. Hundreds of older homes are being renovated/flipped...and it is only a matter of time before new downtown residential projects will be announced. (Central avenue downtown recently underwent a total rebuild btw...I urge you to drive it and see the changes to the cityscape.

Middletown is in the sweet spot...in the middle of the CBD Metroplex. It is destined for further growth.

[midwest1]

If you check out the crime stats for Middletown, crime is down nearly 70% from it's peak in 2012.

https://www.city-data.com/city/Middletown-Ohio.html

Crime is now below the national average, back then it was double the national average.

[midwest1]

Here's a home for sale in West Middletown. Middletown proper goes up to the great Miami River...on the other side are some 10,000 suburban residents...this is another aspect of Middletown that is lost on folks calling it a dump....horses galore over there...

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...33391438_zpid/

[on3]

Originally Posted by JR_C

I live a couple blocks away from where Ed O'Neill lived on the north side.

I don't know enough about them to have an opinion on Akron Dayton or Toledo. Although I have seen a number of nice old houses for sale in Toledo's historic district, in an old house Facebook page I follow.

I saw that man score 4 touchdowns in a single game! Ah the good old days of Polk High!
And let's not forget the Bundy Credo.....I'd say it but some Debbie Downer would report me to the mods.

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

That's a tough one.

City proper: I would put Dayton last. It's just grungier and less nicely laid out than the other two.

Metro area: I would rank Dayton first. More nice new stuff along I-675 then what you will see in the other two. Your mileage may vary, but I like nice and new.

Downtown: Dayton first. It just looks nicer than Akron or Toledo.

I don't know where to rank the other two. They are both okay. Neither one is awful, but neither one makes me say WOW either.

In Dayton plans for a new 114 unit apartment building and two new hotels, with one of these being a high-rise hotel, in the downtown were announced just this week!

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

So on further research, I would say that I would stick to my original opinion that Toledo, with its larger city proper population, its waterfront and skyline, its cultural amenities (like its art museum) being considered more on par with similar museums in the three C's, might have the edge over the other two in terms of city proper.

However, based on what I can tell the other two (Dayton and Akron) make up for it in the broader metro region and slightly beyond.

Toledo is more geographically isolated, in the sense of not having quite the charming towns that can be found outside the other two, and is in a region that is about as scenic as Kansas. (the landscape surrounding is pancake flat endless corn and soybean fields).

Greater Akron has amazing college towns like Kent just to the west, and charming historic affluent towns that date back to the original Connecticut Western Reserve era like Hudson. Those places are a bright spot in an otherwise economically depressed region.

Dayton has one the largest AFB, Wright-Patterson, that has spurred the creation of a university (Wright state), a major AF museum, and many other defense contract businesses all which bring in more fresh faces to the region that otherwise would be stagnant and stale. And being commutable distance to Yellow Springs, one of the few rural villages with a history as a liberal art colony/hippie commune, something that you would be more likely to see in say New England or the west coast.

The area surrounding Toledo doesn't have this. (yes I guess there are tourist spots on Lake Erie and the college town of Bowling Green, but I don't think those have the outside draw as the aforementioned spots).

Dayton has a very nice art museum as well.

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

There is. Dayton kind of has the red-headed stepchild syndrome, and a lot of folks who are from there hate Cincy for some reason or another. I live in Cincy and have lived in Dayton. Dayton's job market sucks, and there are a lot of folks from Middletown and Dayton who commute to Cincy. The cities between Dayton and Cincy have all grown together one way or another, not necessarily in a contiguous way, but they are close and a lot of traffic goes between them. On the other hand, this entire area is insular and a lot of folks around here are somewhat parochial...def. Some nimby types around here too, but overall there is a good amount of traffic between the two cities. So yeah it's a thing and a lot of folks discount that reality because the government hasn't recognized it yet, but it is what it is, it's definitely a reality.

The Dayton area is actually experiencing a lot of economic growth and the area is actually suffering from a labor shortage. The job situation has flipped in the Greater Dayton area

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by robertbrianbush

Dayton has a very nice art museum as well.

It does, though Toledo’s is on another level. The latter very well might be the best relative to the size of its city in the country (after the Norton Simon in Pasadena CA).