Which city in Texas not named Dallas/Houston/Austin/San Antonio/ El Paso do you think will become major? (Fort Worth: lofts, how much)

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Waco is the most centrally located city in Texas in terms of population. Waco (and the Temple/Killeen) area are almost perfectly located in the center of the triangle formed by DFW, Houston, and Austin/San Antonio. That makes Waco and Temple perfectly located for industries and companies that want to distribute products to the major metro areas in Texas. In fact Waco and Temple have made a name for themselves by becoming regional distribution centers for the Texas market. Caterpillar just built a massive distribution center in Waco recently and Toyota is doing the same in Temple.

That said, the Waco area has a LONG ways to go before becoming any sort of major city. And Temple has even farther to go. I don't expect Waco will ever look like a major city with a skyline as it isn't attracting that sort of business. Rather, I'd expect it to end up looking more like say the Arlington/Grand Prairie area...lots and lots of endless sprawl and industrial development. And the population will certainly continue to grow along with the rest of the state.

Not even. Plans and developement is already in place and happening to densify and urbanize the city. At this point; Waco is already more urban than Arlington and Grand Prairie in terms of developement.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by blkgiraffe

Not even. Plans and developement is already in place and happening to densify and urbanize the city. At this point; Waco is already more urban than Arlington and Grand Prairie in terms of developement.

I was actually gonna mention that.

Waco Downtown/Core development

Waco is my least favorite town in this state, but comparing it to Cityburb/suburbs like Arlington and GP is ridiculous.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by JJG

I was actually gonna mention that.

Waco Downtown/Core development

Waco is my least favorite town in this state, but comparing it to Cityburb/suburbs like Arlington and GP is ridiculous.

Right. He must of had us confused with Fort Worth!

I'm jk lol

I think the Tyler/Longview area is another good candidate.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by JJG

I was actually gonna mention that.

Waco Downtown/Core development

Waco is my least favorite town in this state, but comparing it to Cityburb/suburbs like Arlington and GP is ridiculous.

I think we are talking about two different things. Density vs size. The city of Waco is making a decent planning effort to increase density and development in the downtown core, which is happening but very slowly. Yet if all their wet dreams for downtown come true we are still talking about a city that would look more like say Boulder CO than anything major. I don't think there is anything as large as a 10 story building even on the conceptual drawing boards for downtown Waco.

Meanwhile the private development money in Waco is voting with its feet. In the past 5-10 years there has been 10x the commercial and retail development occurring around the Highway 6/I-35 intersections than downtown. The Central Texas Marketplace is trying to be a mini version of the same thing in Arlington. The new Hillcrest hospital went in there and there are more new apartments, restaurants, and office space being built there than all of downtown. Meanwhile most of the residential development is happening along US84 between Woodway and McGregor as well as in Robinson and China Spring. And probably soon in Lorena now that they have their building moratorium lifted. Despite the best efforts of the city planners, private development is turning Waco into EXACTLY the same sort of low density urban sprawl that one finds throughout most of the metroplex outside of downtown Dallas and Fort Worth. Probably lower density for that matter.

The city's 2010 plan is very nice. But if the Waco area does add another 100,000 people in the next 10-20 years I fear most of the development will be suburban sprawl just like Arlington. Waco just doesn't have the teeth to direct development patterns. And most of the private money is going to go into more suburban sprawl.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I think we are talking about two different things. Density vs size. The city of Waco is making a decent planning effort to increase density and development in the downtown core, which is happening but very slowly. Yet if all their wet dreams for downtown come true we are still talking about a city that would look more like say Boulder CO than anything major. I don't think there is anything as large as a 10 story building even on the conceptual drawing boards for downtown Waco.

Meanwhile the private development money in Waco is voting with its feet. In the past 5-10 years there has been 10x the commercial and retail development occurring around the Highway 6/I-35 intersections than downtown. The Central Texas Marketplace is trying to be a mini version of the same thing in Arlington. The new Hillcrest hospital went in there and there are more new apartments, restaurants, and office space being built there than all of downtown. Meanwhile most of the residential development is happening along US84 between Woodway and McGregor as well as in Robinson and China Spring. And probably soon in Lorena now that they have their building moratorium lifted. Despite the best efforts of the city planners, private development is turning Waco into EXACTLY the same sort of low density urban sprawl that one finds throughout most of the metroplex outside of downtown Dallas and Fort Worth. Probably lower density for that matter.

The city's 2010 plan is very nice. But if the Waco area does add another 100,000 people in the next 10-20 years I fear most of the development will be suburban sprawl just like Arlington. Waco just doesn't have the teeth to direct development patterns. And most of the private money is going to go into more suburban sprawl.

You can't compare Waco to Dallas and Fort Worth though. You have to look at it for its size and it's not no Grand Prairie or Arlington. Suburban development is just as prominent in Dallas as it is in Waco. That's nothing special to the Waco area.

[nategdh]

Arlington is way out of Waco's league. Waco (IMO) is just a regular Texas city that happened to grow a little bit because of its location near the big Metros. I honestly think that even if they doubled their population that they will always be forgotten because of the surrounding cities.

[nategdh]

The only reason one could even try to compare Waco and Arlington is with their downtowns LMAO.

[Pretzelogik]

Luckenbach Texas - Tribute to Waylon Jennings 16:9 - YouTube Luckenbach?

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by nategdh

Arlington is way out of Waco's league. Waco (IMO) is just a regular Texas city that happened to grow a little bit because of its location near the big Metros. I honestly think that even if they doubled their population that they will always be forgotten because of the surrounding cities.

Originally Posted by nategdh

The only reason one could even try to compare Waco and Arlington is with their downtowns LMAO.

Very ignorant statements.

[nategdh]

Lol. You mad because I am expressing my opinion? Smh I didn't know we weren't allowed to joke or say what we think. I thought that's what the website is all about. Waco is a cool thriving place but I feel like it will always be overshadowed by others