Houston Strategies: Houston the capital of the Sunbelt, ship channel booming, land of liberty, only in Houston developments, top tech exporter, and more

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Houston the capital of the Sunbelt, ship channel booming, land of liberty, only in Houston developments, top tech exporter, and more

Before we get to this week's misc items, a hearty happy birthday to Houston Strategies, which is 9 years old this week. When I started I had no idea I'd be able to keep it up this long, but now I'm looking forward to another great year and the 10th birthday next year. As always, thank for your readership.

Joel Kotkin in the Daily Beast: "Forget What the Pundits Tell You, Coastal Cities are Old News - it’s the Sunbelt that’s Booming". Excerpts:

"The clear economic capital of the Sunbelt is now Houston, with some stiff competition from Dallas-Ft. Worth. Houston, the energy capital, now ranks second only to New York in new office construction and is the overall number one for corporate expansions. There are fifty new office buildings going up in the city, including Exxon Mobil’s campus, the country’s second largest office complex under construction (after New York’s Freedom Tower). Chevron, once Standard Oil of California, has announced plans to construct a second tower for its downtown Houston campus while Occidental Petroleum, founded more than fifty years ago in Los Angeles, is moving its headquarters to Houston."
Concluding:
"Combined with basics like lower housing costs and taxes, it’s a common optimism about the future that really underlies the resurgence now occurring from Phoenix to Tampa. The long-term shifts in American power and influence that have been underway since the 1950s have not been halted by the housing bust. Disdained by urban aesthetes, hated by much of the punditry, and largely ignored except for their failings in the media, the Sunbelt seems likely to enjoy the last laugh when it comes to shaping the American future."

BusinessWeek does an in-depth story on the booming Houston Ship Channel
World magazine's cover story on Houston from a Christian angle, which is not one I've seen before: "Houston: A semisweet land of liberty - The U.S. economy is bogged down, but Houston is growing rapidly, looking past problems, and proclaiming, ‘You CAN make it here.’
Next City on Seven Buildings (and Neighborhoods) That Would Never Fly in Any City But Houston. Philbest has some good insights in his comment below it too. It rightly points out that Houston has multiple major job centers rather than forcing all tall buildings downtown, and that decentralization has been a great asset for the city in terms of enabling growth. Hat tip to Phil.
The BBC on 10 reasons why so many people are moving to Texas, concluding:

"All this doesn't just bring in new arrivals - native Texans aren't leaving the state either. It is the "stickiest" state in the country, according to the latest figures from the Pew Research Center, which suggest that more than three-quarters of adults born in Texas still live there."

Texas surpasses California as top tech exporter. Hat tip to Joel.
Texas surpasses Illinois in median household income. Hat tip to Joel. Excerpt:

"The common refrain made against Texas by those who defend the status quo in Illinois is that the jobs being created in the Lone Star State are lower-paying and less-rewarding opportunities.

But not anymore. Texas is now unquestionably besting Illinois in providing for the middle class.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012 the inflation-adjusted median household income for Texas surpassed that of Illinois for the first time since 1984, when the statistic first started being recorded.