Gainesville used to be one of the best college towns in the South. But now new luxury apartments have run amuck on University Avenue, causing the city to lose its amazing college town allure. Southern Living dropped its list of the South’s best college towns in 2022 and Gainesville barely made the top 10. Here is what they had to say:
The hometown of the Gators has a lively and historic downtown, where arts and culture take center stage. Catch a play at the Hippodrome Theater or join a free line-dancing or figure-drawing class in Bo Diddley Plaza. Nature-centric activities, like Florida Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly Rainforest and the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, round out the town’s offerings.
Nowhere did they mention Midtown. The area has suffered drastically as it has seen hallowed establishments like The Swamp Restaurant and many others be torn down in exchange for luxury apartments minutes away from campus.
Sadly, this problem won’t go away anytime soon as these new complexes will start gunning for popular bars and nightclubs in the heart of Midtown soon like the Salty Dog Saloon, Balls and FAT DADDY’S. Midtown is still an extremely popular place for students despite the University of Florida’s ascension in the public universities rankings.
Gainesville should see it keep dropping in these types of rankings if they don’t put a stop to all these luxury apartment complexes from taking over.
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