Check out the full article (with details about each city).

livability.com

Let’s get one thing clear from the outset: These are not the least expensive places to live in America. There are places where you can buy a home for pocket change, and whole towns that cost less than a home in Palo Alto, Calif. But if you ask the question “Would you want to live there?”, the answer is likely “No.” Instead, this is a list of affordable cities you’d actually want to live in. By affordable, we also don’t mean merely cheap. We take earning potential into account as well. So how do we choose the Top 10 Best Affordable Places to Live? We start with data. For this list we look at cost of living and how that compares to national averages for key components of the budget like housing, transportation, food and utilities. As you can imagine, we look for cheap places. But we also look for places with high incomes to make those cheap costs go even further. We look for places with high livability, as determined by our LivScore, and low income inequality. Finally, once we have a short list in place, our editors factor in their own knowledge of these cities and look for a good balance of sizes, geographies and types of cities. How’d we do?

1. Huntsville, AL

2. Bismarck, ND

3. Rochester, MN

4. Round Rock, TX

5. Sioux Falls, SD

6. Provo, UT

7. Greeley, CO

8. Cedar Rapids, IA

9. Holland, MI

10. Bloomington, IL

Rocket City is aptly named, thanks to new development.

Shopping Centers Today Magazine

By: Steve Bergsman

Infill neighborhoods provide built-in demand for mixed-use development.

HUNTSVILLE, ALA.— RCP Companies, an Alabama-based, boutique real estate firm, announces Huntsville’s newest development within its Central Business District.  The real estate firm plans to develop CityCentre at Big Spring, a $100 million, mixed-use development in the City’s rejuvenated urban core.  The high-density project is integrated with Big Spring Park on nine acres downtown and between the popular Von Braun Center and Twickenham Square.  Site demolition is complete with construction expected to commence by year-end and phase one opening 2016.

“Every dynamic, growing city needs a compelling urban core, and CityCentre is a critical piece in Huntsville’s revitalization strategy to emerge as the South’s top mid-sized city,” states Max Grelier, executive vice president, RCP Companies.  “The entire educated workforce – not to mention the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) professionals, provide built-in demand for the eclectic-yet-authentic blend of live, work, play, shop amenities we have planned for CityCentre.”

Located on Williams Avenue between Monroe Street and Lowe Avenue, CityCentre at Big Spring features almost 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, over 270 upscale apartment homes along with modern office lofts that appeal to high-tech companies and entrepreneurial incubators.  In addition, plans also include two hotels operated by Alabama-based Yedla Hotel Management (yedlahotels.com) that will provide more than 230 rooms for Huntsville’s estimated one million visitors annually.  Negotiations are currently underway with a boutique hotel concept – first of its kind in Alabama — from a major hotel brand.  Yedla owns and operates some of the most popular hotel franchises including Starwood, Marriott, and Hilton.  Structured and street-level parking provides approximately 750 parking spaces for residents and visiting patrons.

Architectural styles mix and shift subtly emulating Huntsville’s collective appeal.  Locally inspired architecture creates a sense of authentic place while multi-level buildings with varied facades are scaled to generate a sense of intimacy and energy continuum.  Pedestrian crossings; bike paths; a linear park connection to the recently-opened, Publix Super Market-anchored Twickenham Square; as well as spacious walkways, strategically connect pedestrians throughout CityCentre as well as to the Von Braun Center, the largest contiguous historical district in Alabama and the CBD at large.  Further, the newly constructed, four-lane Lowery Boulevard, known as the Downtown Gateway, is a divided boulevard providing a direct path to CityCentre from the surrounding Huntsville Hospital campus.

“CityCentre fills a void of services and entertainment options that the City’s underserved daytime population and workforce, as well as the abundant patrons of Von Braun Civic Center and Big Spring Park, have been seeking,” explains Grelier.  Huntsville accounts for 24% of Alabama’s 10-year population growth.  Its total workforce tops 750,000 with Huntsville Hospital anchoring downtown as its largest employer.  Located one mile from CityCentre, Huntsville Hospital Health System is the second largest hospital in the state and fifth in the nation.  Nearby Cummings Research Park and Redstone Arsenal combine for a total of 24 million square feet of office space that services approximately 65,000 people.  Almost one-quarter of the residents residing within a three-mile radius share an average household income of more than $75,000.

Urban Design Associates, an internationally-renown urban planning firm based in Pittsburgh, serves as the master planner providing insight on architectural patterns, building forms and the overall urban plan.  Birmingham, Ala.-based CMH Architects provides architectural services while Retail Leasing Advisors and Dart Retail Advisors are the exclusive leasing agents.

About RCP Companies

RCP Companies is an Alabama-based, boutique real estate firm that provides acquisition, development and asset management programs for its partners. As a developer and owner of properties where people live, work and play, RCP Companies works to enhance the physical environment, improve the quality of life of residents and visitors and build long-term relationships among community stakeholders. The company currently has more than $500 million of development under construction or in predevelopment in Alabama and Georgia. More information is at rexcp.com.

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Click the publication to read the online coverage of this release:

Most Educated Cities in 2016

ValuePenguin
By by Andrew Pentis and Rebecca Wessell
October 12, 2015

From education level, the rates of employment and poverty as well as the quality of schools and beyond, there are myriad important factors to consider determining the most educated cities in America. Seeking to capture these factors, we considered 17 data points from three sources and interviewed two experts.

Click here to view the full article and rankings.