A city in growth: Tallahahasse's next step

http://www.fsunews.com/story/life/2016/07/03/city-growth-tallahahasses-next-step/86659894/

"Walk only a few hundred feet around campus and you’ll most likely bump into construction workers, dodge dump trucks or hear the clamor of cranes and the swinging of steel beams.
Kellum, Dorman, Deviney and Wildwood Hall are either being demolished, renovated, or reconstructed. Monolithic student housing complexes like Onyx are going up in a semester’s time. With the construction of Collegetown Phase II, vendors and businesses are nearly tripping over each other to get a location in the area.
Campus and the surrounding vicinity are admittedly becoming bigger and better. Like a child in the midst of a growth spurt, Florida State is growing fast and trying on new outfits. In the case of Collegetown’s expansion, the clothes seem to fit well.
Months ago, however, around the corner from Gaines Street and in between FSU and FAMU, the cranes, beeps and bangs from the seemingly never ending construction abruptly subsided. You may have driven, biked or walked through this corner of Tallahassee, past All Saints, past the train tracks, past the dilapidated buildings. Nowadays, the section in between the two universities which once wore a shoddy getup of warehouses and industrial buildings is looking for a new outfit as well.
Enter the Cascades Trail Greenway.
The Cascades Trail Greenway is a project which has been a long time coming for the city of Tallahassee. The greenway meanders through the edges of downtown and FAMU Way. It features a pedestrian bridge crossing over South Monroe Street, 61 parking spaces, a misting station, bike repair stands, a large playground and a market space area. It connects Cascades Park to Railroad Square and is now open to the public.
It’s no surprise that an ambitious urban project like the Cascades Trail Greenway would run through Cascades Park and right alongside Railroad Square, an area that many claim to be one of the most unique sections of the city. Railroad Square itself is a testament to Tallahassee’s culture-in-bloom. It’s essentially a run of the mill industrial park filled with warehouses and smaller workshops with one single in/out entrance.

Fresh yellow paint adorns a warehouse in Railroad Square.
(Photo: Jim Godin/FSView)

Over the years, however, the park’s aesthetic went from lumberyard to flower child. Light blue paint covering old sheet metal contrasts with the salmon painted steel doorways. Flowers have been planted in between buildings and on the corners. Sculptures line the freshly paved streets.
Sitting on the fringes of campus, numerous businesses, galleries and shops call Railroad Square home.
“[At Railroad Square], you can eat great food, check out local artists and craftspeople, have a cup of coffee, buy vintage clothes, watch shows, get a haircut, rent camping gear, meditate, climb and grab a local beer,” one Railroad Square business owner said.
Railroad Square’s core vision has remained the same since it became Railroad Square Art Park in the 1970s—  to provide a unique and diverse space within Tallahassee for business, pleasure and self-expression.
“We have made an effort to bring different tenants into the square who provide a greater variety of services, products, art and galleries,” says Lillian Finn, the property manager of Railroad Square.
Every first Friday night of the month, businesses in Railroad Square keep their doors open, food trucks set up shop and artists lay out their work. The square comes alive. ‘First Friday’ was once Railroad Square’s most recognized night. Recently, the square has generated a significant buzz. It’s becoming more than just a once-a-month, Friday night destination.

Cars line the streets of Railroad Square for Proof Brewing Co.'s Second Anniversary.
(Photo: Jim Godin/FSView)

Most of this buzz has been created from the ground up. Local businesses such as Proof Brewing Co. have established regionally recognized brands in a short amount of time. The brewery just saw its two year anniversary in its Railroad Square location and is already making a statement in the craft beer conversation.
Ran by Atlanta native Bryan Burroughs, Proof’s great tasting beer (try the Mango Wit) and distribution around the greater Tallahassee area has helped business expand. In fact, they’ve recently transitioned into canning and packaging their beer.
“[Proof] has doubled production overnight. We’re putting out more beer, more hours, more material and more space for products going out to market,” Burroughs said.
For Burroughs, Railroad Square had the raw square footage availability and ample storage needed to operate a brewery. The outdoor space for the fully furnished beer garden was a plus, too.
Burroughs, standing amongst rows of giant metallic machines that may or may not have been taken from the set of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, speculates that Proof is going to outgrow this facility pretty quickly, “but we love being in Railroad Square and on this side of town.”
‘This side of town’ is one of the only locations near campus with buildings housing 32 foot high ceilings. Tallahassee Rock Gym saw it as the ideal location to start their business in the 1990s.

Bryan Burroughs stands amidst the brewing tanks at Proof Brewing Co.
(Photo: Jim Godin/FSView)

Given the opportunity to expose Tallahassee to the sport of climbing— an activity many Floridians go without— the gym took its chances in Railroad Square. The professionally designed walls within the gym are well-suited for both novices and experts and can bridge the gap between campus and world class rocks. People can become highly skilled rock climbers without ever needing to leave Tallahassee.
“We may not have any natural rocks or boulders to climb in the area,” Richard Ruddell, owner of Tallahassee Rock Gym says, “but by providing a place for exposure, education, and practice of the sport, we happily foster climbers who moved here, people interested in the sport, people looking for a different workout or just an occasional challenge.”
Most notably, Railroad Square is a community. Many businesses know this and are looking to operate inside the square rather than on one of Tallahassee’s heavily trafficked streets.
The Chop Barbershop, located on Thomasville Road and co-owned by Danny Rainey and Steve Bolinder, recently opened up a new location in Railroad Square.
“Right now, there’s a huge advantage with this side of town because its more cost effective to open a business here,” Rainey said. “There’s so many businesses here in Railroad Square who really help each other with issues such as parking— this area of business is like a family.”


With all of the growth Tallahassee is experiencing, growing pains are inevitable. Many business owners are satisfied with Tallahassee’s current pace and hope to see it transition into a mini-Atlanta or mini-Austin. Although Tallahassee, like Atlanta, is beginning to make the most out of its once-neglected and run down areas (both Cascades Park and Railroad Square served as industrial space), the former city must focus inwardly rather than simply emulating the latter city.
“Tallahassee is booming and the Cascades Trail Greenway is especially fantastic. It’s all infrastructure, which invites more growth for local opportunity,” explains Burroughs. “It’s very similar to the BeltLine in Atlanta, where the city is taking areas that were blighted old train tracks and turning them into functional outdoor space.”
“When I was in Atlanta in the late 1990s before it truly began to grow, I always heard ‘Atlanta wants to be like Dallas’ or ‘Atlanta wants to be like Los Angeles,' I think Tallahassee needs to continue development, and through that it will develop its own sense of self.”
Cascades Park, paired with Railroad Square and Collegetown via the greenway, all provide much needed connectivity in Tallahassee— a city yet to fit into its true identity.
“We are Tallahassee, and comparisons and hopes to be like other cities doesn’t do us any good nor will ever be true,” Richard Ruddell states. “We have our own uniqueness and our own challenges. If our local government and community support the things that are unique to our city, we will be heading in the right direction to be the best Tallahassee we can be.”