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From bigger cities
to better
by Paula C.
Squires
Virginia Business
December 2003
Forget
the Big Apple. These days, companies and people are
moving to small- and medium-size apples — to places
such as Richmond, Charlottesville, Blacksburg, Virginia
Beach and the rural counties in between.
At
least that’s the theory behind “penturbia”—
a term coined by Jack Lessinger, a retired professor
of real estate and urban development at the University
of Washington, to describe the fifth significant migration
trend in America’s history. Penturbia refers to
areas he believes will experience significant property
value increases over the next 20 years as corporate
America continues its movement away from major metropolitan
areas.
The
frantic pace, high cost of doing business and traffic
congestion are some reasons why companies leave big
cities. “It’s a quality of life issue,”
says Petch Gibbons, president and CEO of Advantis/GVA,
a commercial real estate company in Washington, D.C.
“People are getting fed up. They have no time for
themselves, their family life,” Gibbons said at
a recent real estate conference.
The
terrorist attacks in 2001 were another blow for big
cities, says Gibbons. The dwindling number of Fortune
500 companies in New York City supports the penturbia
trend. “Locating in New York used to be critical
for retailers. Now not one of the nation’s top
retail companies is there,” he says. Even the suburbs
of major urban areas don’t offer solace, he says,
because many have the same problems, namely traffic
gridlock and crime. Thirty years ago the suburbs of
Washington extended just a few miles out to Arlington
County and Bethesda, Md. Today, Washington commuters
are fighting traffic from as far away as Manassas and
Fredericksburg.
Philip
Morris USA’s relocation from New York City to Richmond
is a good example of the penturbia movement, Gib-bons
says. He sees plenty of opportunity for the migration
to take hold in Virginia, “from Virginia Beach
to Central Virginia and all the way to Blacksburg.”
Cities in the mid-Atlantic and South-eastern states
with temperate climates, good medical facilities, airports
and schools will be prime targets for corporate location.
Other hot spots for the trend: revitalized factory towns,
resort towns near the beach or mountains, such as Charleston,
S.C., and Santa Fe, N.M., and college and university
towns that typically offer many cultural events.
If
a penturbian paradise doesn’t grab a company’s
fancy, there’s always exurbia, a reverse migration
back to trendy urban areas. Who knows, it may be enough
to create “disturbia” — the attitude
big cities will develop if all their companies leave.
Virginia
Business - December 2003
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