Downtown has always been the place to be for most large cities, but as time has passed the face of many “downtown” areas need a makeover. For a developer, that means you may want to find out which cities have companies relocating or new companies moving in. As companies are searching for cities that are established but also need some revitalization, they keep in mind the people and demographic they want to hire. According to Forbes, many cities are actually competing to see who CAN draw the most young-professionals.
Some of the more popular cities are Memphis, Louisville, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Denver, Atlanta, Grand Rapids, and Birmingham. These smaller cities battle it out as they bring new corporations in, and new construction or restoration in order to draw the age group that these companies want to hire, the 25 – 34 year old crowd.
Lee Fisher, president of CEOs for Cities, a national non-for-profit that assists and helps plan the economic growth of our cities says, “The American population, contrary to popular opinion, is not very mobile, but there is one very significant exception, what we call ‘the young and the restless.’ The cities that capture the mobile, college-educated ‘young and restless’ are the ones who are most likely to revitalize their downtowns and accelerate economic progress in their cities.”
For example, the city of Louisville did a study and found that 23% of its residents under the age of 31 wanted to be living downtown.
Fischer realizes that this young demographic isn’t much into amenities that other markets offer. They want to be out and about, meeting people, enjoying the restaurant and night life, gyms, art galleries, etc. This is a generation on the move and doesn’t want to live in the suburbs.
With all the revitalization in the job market, coupled with the housing market, drawing these young-professionals will only continue to spark the housing market.
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