^I would hate to work in such an environment.  I imagine they will have a cafeteria so in some ways it will just be like going to high school.  You arrive in the morning and leave at night without leaving the campus.  At least downtown you were able to walk to a variety of places for lunch and run a quick errand if you had to.  I don't care if Olive Garden and Chipolte are "across the street".  You still have to drive there which means treking to  the parking garage, circling the garage, driving over and doing the same on your return which easily will take up 15-20 of your lunch (and more if you drive up to the places on Chagrin.).  On the other hand the views of downtown and the Chagrin Valley have to be great (don't know if that is a great substitute or selling point for a young worker)

Independence is about as far as I would ever consider (10 minute bus ride from a downtown apartment/condo).

^I would hate to work in such an environment.  I imagine they will have a cafeteria so in some ways it will just be like going to high school.  You arrive in the morning and leave at night without leaving the campus.  At least downtown you were able to walk to a variety of places for lunch and run a quick errand if you had to.  I don't care if Olive Garden and Chipolte are "across the street".  You still have to drive there which means treking to  the parking garage, circling the garage, driving over and doing the same on your return which easily will take up 15-20 of your lunch (and more if you drive up to the places on Chagrin.).  On the other hand the views of downtown and the Chagrin Valley have to be great (don't know if that is a great substitute or selling point for a young worker)

 

From what I have heard, it's going to be a lot like Progressive's HQ, and the amenities there are *very* popular with the workforce.

^to each his own...it would drive me nuts.

E Rocc is right, we're not seeing a big push from suburban employees to be downtown.  Why not?

 

1) There is a palpable shortage of retail and housing in our central city.

2) Urbanism is only popular among a certain subset of young people.  They're somewhat rare here, as are young people in positions of power.

3) Anti-urban bias is taught to everyone in our region at an early age... this includes those growing up in the city.  For many, getting a job in the suburbs is seen as more of a move up than a job in Key Tower.  And more exotic.

Focus on how it relates to Eaton's new headquarters. For example, Eaton may have the same difficulty in filling open positions as Progressive has. Sure, most of the folks who have agreed to work at Progressive's campus and remain working there for more than a few months probably are going to say they like it. Let's ask those who won't work there, or remain there after a few months, or relocate to Cleveland because we offer such great working environments.

E Rocc is right, we're not seeing a big push from suburban employees to be downtown.  Why not?

 

1) There is a palpable shortage of retail and housing in our central city.

2) Urbanism is only popular among a certain subset of young people.  They're somewhat rare here, as are young people in positions of power.

3) Anti-urban bias is taught to everyone in our region at an early age... this includes those growing up in the city.  For many, getting a job in the suburbs is seen as more of a move up than a job in Key Tower.  And more exotic.

 

Hit that right on the head.  On this forum, we view working in the burbs not as glamorous as working in the city.  However, considering that only about 1% of our regions population lives downtown, and only about 10% in the city, I don't think very many people in our workforce can care one way or another.  We have been working for years to make those numbers better, and we are making strides.  Jsut saying for most of the people, where they work, and what typ of building they work in doesn't really matter.  It's the job, not the walls, windows and cafeteria. 

 

Lets not forget, all major cities have big suburban complexes.  Take Oak Brook in Illinois.  That small town probably has more office space then downtown Cleveland. The problem is in Cleveland, we just don't have enough large white collar employers to spread the work force between the city and the suburbs.  We need to keep as many people working in the city as we can.

 

If you can afford to quit a job because you don't like the office... you are a very special person.

^I actually didn't know I was working there.  And I guess I am special.  Back in my younger days I was offered a job at Progressive and a job at a law firm downtown at pretty much the same time and took the downtown job even though the Progressive job paid 20% more because I didn't want to work in the suburbs.

These are not just young people, there is also a subset of 30 and 40 somethings at the top of their game that don't want it either...and could be actively looking to leave and find something that better suits their lifestyle.  Divorcee's , Gays, Single Older folks, and yes young 20 somethings.  Everyone is not married with kids, and these are the ones that can be transient and at risky to lose.  They are probably getting feedback from recruiters and consultants too.  I personally know 2 people that flew to Cleveland and interviewed at Progressive and were put off by the campus and did not consider the job...and that is probably what they told the recruiter.  I also know TONS of Consultants/Contractors that have done work in Cleveland/Akron....and a few that were offered full time employment and did not take it for the same reason.

 

Walgreens, United Airlines, Motorola, Sears to name a few...all have established Loop offices in Chicago because they couldn't lure certain talent to suburban bunkers.  It's a real concern for forward looking companies, and Eaton will probably regret abandoning Downtown completely at some point.

We need more people with those attitudes living here.  Eaton didn't help our cause, but there are still steps we can take to attract them.

We will get there. It seems Cleveland is a little resistant to change and progress, but great strides have been made already!

Walgreens, United Airlines, Motorola, Sears to name a few...all have established Loop offices in Chicago because they couldn't lure certain talent to suburban bunkers.  It's a real concern for forward looking companies, and Eaton will probably regret abandoning Downtown completely at some point.

 

I work with the online divisions of Walgreens, Sears (noted above) and dozens of other major retailers, as well as the biggest of the big pure-play eCommerce retailers - in cities like Seattle, Atlanta, San Francisco, MSP, Philadelphia, LA, Charlotte and more.  The eCommerce world, perhaps above most others, attracts the best and brightest young workers - and yet, almost exclusively, these HQs are suburban (sometimes WAY suburban), offering campus like atmospheres with self-contained cafeterias, banks, stores, dry cleaners, fitness centers and many other amenities of the type Eaton may have.  And they don't seem to struggle to find workers... quite the contrary.

 

My point being that the comments above tend to make it sound like CLE is the only city in the world un-hip enough to have an HQ in the suburbs vs the city - when these techy/eComm types I deal with almost exclusively work there.

My brother and his friends all graduated college a couple years ago. None of them really had any desire to work downtown or had any great opinion of Cleveland, besides negative. I even got into a few arguments with some of them about Cleveland. Then they all graduated, and all of them ended up getting jobs downtown. Now they love it. They all go out to lunch everyday, know all the Cleveland restaurants, one lives Tremont, and another in Lakewood.

 

I bet a lot of people who love working in the suburbs dont have any experience in a downtown setting. Many probably never go downtown and dont know what they are missing out on.

I work with the online divisions of Walgreens, Sears (noted above) and dozens of other major retailers, as well as the biggest of the big pure-play eCommerce retailers -

 

Notice, in the case of Walgreens and Sears, the entire company didn't move....but they realized they needed the option to be Downtown to compete for talent.  Motorola Mobility and UAL did close the suburban HQ and move most everyone.

 

The siren song of downtown as companies seek young tech workers

 

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120609/ISSUE01/306099978/the-siren-song-of-downtown-as-companies-seek-young-tech-workers

 

Motorola Mobility and Sara Lee Corp. are willing to trade the suburbs for the city because workers like Nina Bieliauskas, a 37-year-old manager in Sears Holdings Corp.'s e-commerce business, live downtown and want to work there, too.

 

She left a consulting gig in Barrington and ditched her commute four years ago to work for Hoffman Estates-based Sears when it opened an office in the Loop.

 

“To get back those three hours a day is huge,” says Ms. Bieliauskas, a user-experience manager. “I got rid of my car.”

 

“Frankly, those (tech) folks love living downtown. That's where the talent pool is,” says Greg Wasson, CEO of Deerfield-based Walgreen Co., which has about 300 e-commerce workers in the Sullivan Center, where it set up shop in 2010.....

 

In the highest demand are technology workers, especially web designers and mobile software developers, who tend to be younger and more likely to live in the city, recruiters say. Companies also have their sights on fresh college graduates and other young workers for jobs in sales, marketing and customer support.

 

Sears, whose headquarters moved to Hoffman Estates from Chicago two decades ago, opened offices downtown in 2008 for its e-commerce team. Today it employs more than 500 people at two locations on State Street.

 

It's not limited to tech workers. Petroleum giant BP PLC moved about 850 traders and others to the Loop from Naperville in 2010 to be closer to the city's trading firms

 

“I don't know one young person who would think working in Skokie would be cool,” says Helen Tunea, a 30-year-old human resources manager at Ifbyphone who lives in the South Loop.

 

 

E Rocc is right, we're not seeing a big push from suburban employees to be downtown.  Why not?

 

1) There is a palpable shortage of retail and housing in our central city.

2) Urbanism is only popular among a certain subset of young people.  They're somewhat rare here, as are young people in positions of power.

3) Anti-urban bias is taught to everyone in our region at an early age... this includes those growing up in the city.  For many, getting a job in the suburbs is seen as more of a move up than a job in Key Tower.  And more exotic.

E Rocc is right, we're not seeing a big push from suburban employees to be downtown.  Why not?

 

1) There is a palpable shortage of retail and housing in our central city.

 

2) Urbanism is only popular among a certain subset of young people.  They're somewhat rare here, as are young people in positions of power.

 

3) Anti-urban bias is taught to everyone in our region at an early age... this includes those growing up in the city.  For many, getting a job in the suburbs is seen as more of a move up than a job in Key Tower.  And more exotic.

 

Your three reasons are valid from the perspective of an urbanist, and each and every one is a good point.  However:

 

-Point one is a case of  “chicken and the egg”. 

 

-Point two isn’t something you’re going to do anything about anytime soon.  But younger people?  How old is Cimperman, for example? 

 

-Point three is where a confirmed suburbanite would disagree with you.  They might concede the “early age” part, but they would counter that the lesson is reinforced on a regular basis, and not by some nefarious Great Suburban Conspiracy.  It’s reinforced by the politics of Cleveland proper and Cuyahoga County.  It’s reinforced by the type of people that win elections there.  To people on the outside, the fact that we repeatedly voted for prominent members of the Future Felons of America, along with what might be called “politicians of the looter persuasion” speaks poorly of whom and what they shall select in the future.  It’s not just city politicians (Sunny Simon leaps to mind) and it’s not just elected politicians (Frank Battisti said “if you wish to live in the city and avail yourselves of the schools you are paying for, you have to send your kids to high crime areas”, and many Clevelanders said “Okay.  Bye.”.) 

 

You may not think it’s right or fair, but those are the perceptions of the people you are trying to reach.  They have to be addressed before you can get beyond them.  You’ll never get beyond concerns like traffic and paying to park, but those don’t matter as much if people have a positive perception of the city.

 

Can it be done?  I’m not sure it can.  I say that because during the mid to late 1990s you had a “perfect storm” of sorts.  The Flats was the entertainment center and “going downtown”  was synonymous with partying particularly hard.  People came down to see the Indians win.  Tower City was a shopping draw.  Playhouse Square was beginning to kick in.  Driving home from the game or the Flats could be a PITA, because of traffic or the oncoming DUI crackdown.  Even Cleveland city government, Mike White in particular, had a decent reputation among outsiders.  People were seriously talking about moving downtown.

 

Downtown had a brief era.  It began with the Carter-Reagan debate, grew slowly from there, probably peaked during the 1995 World Series, and declined quickly after the last Riverfest.

 

What wrecked that?  Crime.  The other thing suburbanites and other outsiders are afraid of.  Excessively so, statistically speaking.  It doesn’t happen nearly as often as people think, but it does and did happen and gets a lot of attention when its not just one thug shooting another.  It is what wrecked first Riverfest and then the Flats in general.  It’s what drove people away from Tower City and it’s what scares people away from even driving through places they need to to get to those attractions.

 

By no means is this a unique problem to Cleveland.  But it’s one that requires a certain degree of political will because there is a law abiding constituency that sometimes sticks up for the hoodlums.  Giuliani did it.  The Daleys did it, father more than son.  Voinovich and White managed, more or less.  It’s what will be needed, especially to bring families back in, though at this point it may not be enough.

 

Getting back to Eaton, keep in mind that they are manufacturing based.  As I've said before, most people in manufacturing seem to be against the idea of going, let alone working, downtown.

Good title change...

Strange views, E Rocc. Downtown employment has declined since the 1980s. But downtown residents increased. I think the numbers will show it's a wash. And in neighborhoods surrounding downtown, I think you'll find that average wages of homeowners have increased even more and thus, so have the number of retailers, restaurants, etc in and near downtown.

"By no means is this a unique problem to Cleveland.  But it’s one that requires a certain degree of political will "

 

That's why I think the casino money should go to the safety forces. There are not enough cars in the city and 3rd district is light due to cars being pulled downtown to the casino to cover there at night. 

 

OTOH I met some people at Walnut Wednesday this year in the park.  Sat down at a bench and there were 3 middle aged women there.  Two of them were from an Eastern suburb and had not been downtown or to the WSM in years because they were afraid.  Their co-worker was a recent transplant from Tampa and lived in Lakewood.  She drug them down there and loved hanging out all over town and using the amenities.  She made specific mention of how people think Florida is so great but that you also have 3+ months of the year there where it is not comfortable to be outside because of the heat. 

 

Some people get it, some don't.

 

I work near downtown.  I would not give it up for anything and I want to continue to work downtown.  I have gotten used to the 8 minute commutes and all the amenities that I can access easily working in the city and near home.  If I had to commute for 3hrs like the woman in the article above I would jump off a bridge. 

 

Years ago I too considered Progressive but the commute from the near West side is much too far.  The farthest I would consider would be Independence but that would be an adjustment as well having not had to drive far for so many years.  At least it would be a reverse commute.

 

 

I really think this attitude is changing not only here, but in almost every other city. I am a die hard Cleveland lover, so naturally, you don't have to convince me to want to  live or work downtown or the near east/west sides. To counter the point that some people will take any job no matter where it is due to the current economy, this summer I was working an internship in a cubicle, sitting at a computer all day at a company in Aurora. I chose to still live downtown and commute. That drive was absolutely miserable every single day. I told myself I would NEVER work in the burbs after that experience, so needless to say, when another company on the near east side offered me an internship, I up and left midway through. Keep in mind that this was a company that was willing to hire me right out of college, and it still wasn't enough. When they asked why I was leaving, I said that I want to be closer to downtown. I'm not the only one either. All of my friends are really pushing hard to find a job in the city, and they are people who don't share the "Cleveland or nowhere else" mentality that I have. These companies are really going to struggle to attract talent in the next ten years.

-Point three is where a confirmed suburbanite would disagree with you.  They might concede the early age part, but they would counter that the lesson is reinforced on a regular basis, and not by some nefarious Great Suburban Conspiracy.  Its reinforced by the politics of Cleveland proper and Cuyahoga County.  Its reinforced by the type of people that win elections there.  To people on the outside, the fact that we repeatedly voted for prominent members of the Future Felons of America, along with what might be called politicians of the looter persuasion speaks poorly of whom and what they shall select in the future.  Its not just city politicians (Sunny Simon leaps to mind) and its not just elected politicians (Frank Battisti said if you wish to live in the city and avail yourselves of the schools you are paying for, you have to send your kids to high crime areas, and many Clevelanders said Okay.  Bye..) 

 

You may not think its right or fair, but those are the perceptions of the people you are trying to reach.  They have to be addressed before you can get beyond them.  Youll never get beyond concerns like traffic and paying to park, but those dont matter as much if people have a positive perception of the city.

[/color]

 

I agree with most of this. 

 

Ultimately, I don't expect local suburbanites to come around.  And I think Cleveland has done itself great harm trying to please them.  I'm aiming elsewhere.  That's why I always harp on how Cleveland compares competitively with other urban experiences.  I believe our best hope is attracting new urbanists to the area.

^ Yep the local suburbanites are pretty much a lost cause. At my work I get asked all the time "Is it safe around here?" and I'll reply "Of course it is, where are you visiting from?" and inevitably the answer is something pathetic as Willowick or Orange. Suburban residents watch the local news at 5, and that's all they know about city living. It's just like the river catching on fire crap, you have to remind people that was a half century ago.

 

I see the continuing downtown growth being fueled by the big four institutions bringing in young, smart people from outside the area: {1} Cleveland State {2} Case Western {3} Cleveland Clinic {4} University Hospitals. Every year these bring in hundreds of fresh minds to the city, and many are pleasantly surprised by what they find. Many won't stay past their college/residency years, but a few will.

 

Based on that, I would be interested to see what percentage of downtown residents are lifelong Clevelanders, and how many are transplants.

Many of the people that live around me are transplants as am I, but there is also a high number of suburbanites of all ages downtown. Quite a few of the people I know work for Cleveland Clinic or UH and a good bit of the others work in one of the many downtown law firms. I work for Farmers Insurance and about 10 of us live in the downtown area, but the average age in my office is probably around 37. It will be interesting to see what the next round of apartment redevelopments downtown bring in. It will also be interesting to see if these companies moving into downtown/staying and growing downtown will bring any more residents.

Can it be done?  I’m not sure it can.  I say that because during the mid to late 1990s you had a “perfect storm” of sorts.  The Flats was the entertainment center and “going downtown”  was synonymous with partying particularly hard.  People came down to see the Indians win.  Tower City was a shopping draw.  Playhouse Square was beginning to kick in.  Driving home from the game or the Flats could be a PITA, because of traffic or the oncoming DUI crackdown.  Even Cleveland city government, Mike White in particular, had a decent reputation among outsiders.  People were seriously talking about moving downtown.

 

Downtown had a brief era.  It began with the Carter-Reagan debate, grew slowly from there, probably peaked during the 1995 World Series, and declined quickly after the last Riverfest.

 

What wrecked that?  Crime.  The other thing suburbanites and other outsiders are afraid of.  Excessively so, statistically speaking.  It doesn’t happen nearly as often as people think, but it does and did happen and gets a lot of attention when its not just one thug shooting another.  It is what wrecked first Riverfest and then the Flats in general.  It’s what drove people away from Tower City and it’s what scares people away from even driving through places they need to to get to those attractions.

 

By no means is this a unique problem to Cleveland.  But it’s one that requires a certain degree of political will because there is a law abiding constituency that sometimes sticks up for the hoodlums.  Giuliani did it.  The Daleys did it, father more than son.  Voinovich and White managed, more or less.  It’s what will be needed, especially to bring families back in, though at this point it may not be enough.

 

The problem with the 90s momentum was that not enough residential development was built to go along with the Flats scene and other big projects that where happening downtown. Not sure why this aspect was missed during that time though. Was it lack of vision by the local government and developers? Did people just not see downtown and the surrounding areas as a viable place for living?

 

During that time period I was in college and did see downtown as a party and entertainment spot, but did not think much about living there or even know if it was a viable option to do so. This was of course before I discovered the merits of urban living.

 

Your comments about crime and the decline of Tower City are valid, but a larger residential population in these areas would deter the criminal element due to the "eyes on the street" factor. It would also create a demand for shopping downtown and could have kept Tower City going strong after the novelty wore off to the suburbanites. Critical mass is the key.

 

Unfortunately residential development has only become an initiative in recent years, when really this should have been happening more in the early 90s.

 

Ultimately, I don't expect local suburbanites to come around.  And I think Cleveland has done itself great harm trying to please them.  I'm aiming elsewhere.  That's why I always harp on how Cleveland compares competitively with other urban experiences.  I believe our best hope is attracting new urbanists to the area.

 

I agree. Cleveland's main competition is other cities, not its suburbs. I don't think many people get that. Read Cleveland.com and the #1 thing people on there claim as the silver bullet for Cleveland's problems is fixing the schools. Never mind that just about every large city in the US has crap schools. Not saying the schools should be ignored, but I'm just pointing out that to many people from the suburbs the way to fix Cleveland is to make it more suburban.

 

Not sure I would ignore suburbanites all together though. The younger ones looking for more out of life and retirees looking to down-size should be made aware that an urban lifestyle can be better than a suburban lifestyle for them. Improved schools and safety will be a by-product once communities are revitalized.

The problem with the 90s momentum was that not enough residential development was built to go along with the Flats scene and other big projects that where happening downtown. Not sure why this aspect was missed during that time though. Was it lack of vision by the local government and developers? Did people just not see downtown and the surrounding areas as a viable place for living?

 

This was caused by the same anti-urban bias we're still fighting.  All that 90s "development" was premised on downtown being a playground for area suburbanites.  That's why Tower City was allowed to decline, that's how we got a ridiculous theme park ride of a "Waterfront Line," and that's why residential was ignored.  Mismangement on a grand scale... all to please an uninterested suburban audience. 

 

Our current Flats East Bank project is a continuation of that same approach, as is most of the housing built here recently, as is Steelyard Commons.  A slow motion sprint toward the 1950s ideal with Chariots of Fire playing in the background.

"These are not just young people, there is also a subset of 30 and 40 somethings at the top of their game that don't want it either ..."

 

It's a generational thing - a lot of Gen X and Gen Y grew up with parents who admirably and with good intentions, busted their rears for their kids but at the expense of the time they had to spend with them. Whether we're talking a blue-collar worker taking all the overtime they can get, or the white-collar suburbanite who endures an absurd commute - a lot of the under 40ish crowd realized just how valuable their time was outside of work. Count me in as a 40something - I started my career renting in Hudson, working in office park settings in Stow and Hudson, then got a job in downtown Cleveland and made that commute everyday for six months. On the weekends, I could make that trip in 30ish to 40ish minutes but during the weekday, I was easily and inexplicably spending well over an hour each way because the people who shared the same route had no retention of the traffic nuances and patterns.

 

Around month six of that commute, I crashed at a co-worker's place in Lakewood for a few days - and that's when it hit me; instead of waking up at 5:30am and the 'MUST be on the road by 6:15am or else!!!', I woke up at 7am, took my time getting ready, and still got to work about ten minutes earlier than usual and not p!ssed off because of the idiots on the usual commute. Then, instead of getting home around 6:30 and aggravated and drained by the commute home, I was back to my co-worker's place by 5:30 and had time to chill out and energy to enjoy my free time. As time marches on, I'm realizing that I'm not the only one who sees things this way.

the instant you start getting ready for work, you're on the clock. so if you have to wake up at six and commute to get to work by 9, leave at five and get home at six, you just worked for twelve hours, not eight.

Fixing the schools is important to drawing residents and company headquarters, but it's not the silver bullet. Not when only one-third of all households in the nation have school-age children. There are also many other educational options available these days for city residents. But again, that's only one-third of the market. If the suburbs want to dominate that market, they can have it.

 

I agree 100 percent that Cleveland's competition is not the suburbs -- it's other cities. Big cities aren't going to be Ozzie-and-Harriet land of white picket fences and 2.5 kids. That's not THE American dream. It's just only one of many American dreams. Cleveland is the place where your corner office is carved out of a repurposed building with a view of bricks and bridges and barges and the lake and grit and steel and the weather. It's where creativity and hard work can result in things that have never been accomplished before.

CBD office buildings outperform other commercial sectors in the U.S.

 

http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/north-america-commercial-news/moodysrca-commercial-property-price-indices-cppi-moodys-investors-service-real-capital-analytics-office-sector-performance-in-2012-6360.php

My brother and his friends all graduated college a couple years ago. None of them really had any desire to work downtown or had any great opinion of Cleveland, besides negative. I even got into a few arguments with some of them about Cleveland. Then they all graduated, and all of them ended up getting jobs downtown. Now they love it. They all go out to lunch everyday, know all the Cleveland restaurants, one lives Tremont, and another in Lakewood.

 

I bet a lot of people who love working in the suburbs dont have any experience in a downtown setting. Many probably never go downtown and dont know what they are missing out on.

 

 

that reminds me of another subset, of which i was once one, the reverse commuter. you live downtown you love downtown, no matter what your previous opinions were or even where you work. that applies to other subsets as well. this is why i hope the city and developers build up a lot more residential downtown. reverse commuters, retirees, families, temps, etc., all can find living downtown attractive. attracting business is elusive, but attracting residential is can do. they go hand in hand, but the difference is you can develop residential more easily -- and the added vibrancy will attract business.

 

^yea, to get companies to move downtown, you sometimes gotta convince sprawl-worshiping CEO's, boards and other management members to move back, whereas individual residents get to make their own decision to move more often.

CBD office buildings outperform other commercial sectors in the U.S.

 

http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/north-america-commercial-news/moodysrca-commercial-property-price-indices-cppi-moodys-investors-service-real-capital-analytics-office-sector-performance-in-2012-6360.php

 

Primary reason CBD's are more expensive, out perform or have lower vacancy rates than suburban sub markets is because

developers don't throw up new buildings in CBDs like you see in sub markets outside of CBDs. Building downtown is almost

always more expensive than elsewhere, so you don't see CBD office space sub markets grow.

 

FWIW the lowest vacancy rate of any Greater Cincy office space sub market is West Chester, single digits.

^yea, to get companies to move downtown, you sometimes gotta convince sprawl-worshiping CEO's, boards and other management members to move back, whereas individual residents get to make their own decision to move more often.

 

A pretty high percentage of HQs are in Downtown areas, but you have to identify if they are local, national, international, private, publicly traded,

etc. The Banks, and Law Firms almost always have their HQ Downtown.

^yea, to get companies to move downtown, you sometimes gotta convince sprawl-worshiping CEO's, boards and other management members to move back, whereas individual residents get to make their own decision to move more often.

 

Courts are downtown, so lawyers want to be there.

 

Financial institutions (including accounting) are downtown in part because of tradition, and in part because of "critical mass", i.e. lots of them being there.

 

Resource companies are downtown for prestige reasons, I suppose.

 

"Hands on" manufacturing companies are rarely downtown because their plants almost never are.  Even those companies which do a lot of their work offshore (Moen, for example) locate in the suburbs because that's the preference of their people, who dislike concepts such as heavy traffic and parking fees.  Plus, space is more expensive.

I find suburban traffic is often much worse than city traffic because the dispersed and subdivided land use patterns force people to drive farther and for every little task. And the only reason why you often don't pay for parking in the suburbs is because your employer (or other land owner) is subsidizing the expense (as well as all of the other expenses including stormwater runoff and retention, most of which is subsidized by general taxpayers). But many employees who work downtown (including my sister) do not pay for parking either as her employer subsidizes the cost.

Yeah, I've seen some filthy nasty suburban traffic jams. Most of that '90s and 2000s sprawl asked so much of the arterials (that had been 2-lane country roads only a few years before) that there would be almost no way to avoid heavy congestion even by adding unlimited lanes. And don't even think about turning left out of your subdivision from 7-9am.