Why does Greensboro make it in the top 5? :shrug:

[raccoon]

America's Emptiest Cities

By Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes.com

Feb 12th, 2009

Vacancy rates in these spots spell lots of empty neighborhoods.

Call it a modern-day tale of two cities.

For decades, Las Vegas, ripe with new construction and economic development, burgeoned into a shimmering urban carnival. Detroit, once the fulcrum of American industry, sagged and rusted under its own weight.

These days, it's the worst of times for both.

Las Vegas edged Detroit for the title of America's most abandoned city. Atlanta came in third, followed by Greensboro, N.C., and Dayton, Ohio. Our rankings, a combination of rental and homeowner vacancy rates for the 75 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, are based on fourth-quarter data released Feb. 3 by the Census Bureau. Each was ranked on rental vacancies and housing vacancies; the final ranking is an average of the two.

Cities like Detroit and Dayton are casualties of America's lengthy industrial decline. Others, like Las Vegas and Orlando, are mostly victims of the recent housing bust….

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-emptiest-cities.html

[DemoTex]

1. Furniture Mart comes to mind.

Greensboro, High Point, Lenoir, Lexington = Furniture

At least Lenoir has Google now.

[liberal N proud]

2. Last time I was in the Greensboro airport...

it was spooky.
All those gates with no planes.

[supernova]

3. Greensboro

Hrrm... I thought they were doing better than that.

:shrug:

[TwilightGardener]

4. I had heard that NC was one of the few stable areas in terms of housing prices and recession.

Guess not.

[waiting for hope]

5. Depends on where you are.

I'm on the coast and for the moment, it's holding better than most.

[supernova]

7. Triangle is down a little but

doing better than other "hotspot" areas across the country.

[Lex]

10. Durham and Raleigh, yes.

Link ---> http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/02/02/daily79.html?ana=e_du_pap

[waiting for hope]

6. This may be the answer:

Greensboro is the location of the corporate headquarters of the Honda Aircraft Company, Lorillard Tobacco Company, VF Corporation, AIG United Guaranty, Volvo Trucks of North America, RF Micro Devices, the International Textile Group, Market America, NewBridge Bank and Carolina Bank and Gilbarco Veeder-Root. Greensboro is a "center of operations" for the insurance company Lincoln Financial Group. Although traditionally associated with the textile and tobacco industries, Greensboro leaders are working to attract new businesses in the nanotech, high-tech and transportation/logistics sectors. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University just opened a joint research park called Gateway University Research Park. The first building is complete and it houses the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The next building in the south campus will be for UNCG and NC A&T's joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. A regional chain of fast-food restaurants known as Cook Out maintains its corporate headquarters in Greensboro. Biscuitville, another regional fast-food restaurant chain, has its corporate headquarters in Greensboro; Biscuitville specializes in breakfast food and operates 50 locations throughout North Carolina and Virginia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro,_North_Carolina#Economic_development

[HillbillyBob]

8. We have moved to rural Caswell county about 40 miles from GSO

[HillbillyBob]

9. We have moved to rural Caswell county about 40 miles from GSO

We lived in Greensboro for about 4 years, the times are tough there,
Levis-Straus moved their factory to Mexico and Russia after 100 years at Cone mills.
VF was Wrangler jeans there for a along time too. Hanes/ SaraLee left and closed sock mills, stocking and underwear plants.
Honda just opened there a few years ago as did Dell and Fed Ex.
It is a lovely city small town, polite folks but it is changing fast.
Times are getting desperate. My partner works there. We lived in 1900-1930 era neighborhood, which was mill housing, craftsman style homes that since all the jobs are going goin gone are rapidly becoming DaHood.
Our last day there was a shooting behind the house...
It may make a come back as yuppieville, but having lived in areas that 'gentrified' it will kill the charm..MBAs have little charm and should be shot on sight..See George ( * ) Bush if you need an example.
Greed had already started to ruin the neighborhood with slums and slumlords who upped our rent because I had made improvements in our rental house.
We have 9 acres 4/3 modular home about about 70 years newer than the 1924 craftsman house we were renting. It does not have the charm..but it sure is bigger and a lot easier to heat and the payments are about half what the rent was.

Greensboro was named for Nathaniel Greene the Revolutionary War General who whupped Cornwallis at nearby Guilford Courthouse, which was the original town.
He was also a Quaker, the area is also famous for Guilford College which has been known by several names and was where Dolly Payne Madison was educated.'
The areas earlier settlers were mostly Quaker.
I hope none mind the little history lesson. I like to learn about where ever I live to try to understand what has gone before.
AND we don't have drive by shootings, strong arm robbery at the front door, boomboom drug dealer cars out front.
Greensboro was so nice, but the greedy rpig tax breaks to outsource jobs to where ever....f k them. There are still a lot of nice neighborhoods there, its too bad they are the wealthier ones.

[Tunkamerica]

11. I saw this the other day and I'm from Greensboro.

It surprised me because I go back there every few weeks. I haven't noticed any difference. I have several friends who work, go to school there. My brother lives, works, and goes to school there. My parents have a house there. My dad did get laid off and had to move to Raleigh, but that was 2 years ago. I'm guessing it has to do with a bunch of houses being built in the boom and no one buying them now. The article says it's ranking were based on vacancy rates. Greensboro was blowing up the last few years. I remember when there was a definite difference between High Point and Greensboro. Now you can't tell when you eave one and get to the other. It's almost merged with Winston.