Relient J

It's cool. It's just that you quoted my comment about Murfreesboro's beauty before making your original stament, which genuienly confused me, so I just felt I would reply and defend my quoted statement. No worries!

I didn't say it was perfect, but it is a beautiful city overall in my opinion. Just walk along the Stones River Greenway Trail or drive through the Gateway Overlay District, and I think you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for posting the pictures! Murfreesboro really is undergoing some dramatic changes that are making this beautiful city even more spectacular. I am excitedly looking forward to the next stage of this continuing transformation.

^ To each his own. However, I'm very excited about this project. The other Avenue shopping centers I've seen from the pictures on their Web site look beautiful, and it'll be great to have some of these stores in our market contributing to our local economy. It has the potential to be a big draw to consumers in other counties as well.

^ Very interesting perspective on the Murfreesboro electronics market! There was another article on the tenants issue in the online edition of today's Daily News Journal: http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../605200316/1002

It's actually exit 76 (exit 74 is the 840 exit), but your point is well taken. From what the developers have said, they're really aiming for regional appeal. Unfortunately I don't think I have a reliable way of hosting the plan right now, but if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd love to have a copy of it!

There is an article from the Nashville Business Journal here: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stori...html?from_rss=1 and one from Murfreesboro's Daily News Journal here: http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...NEWS01/60519002 that disclose the initial round of tenants who have committed to The Avenue, a proposed retail development off of Medical Center Parkway at I-24. My favorites from the list are Best Buy and Barnes and Noble!

I'm disappointed the hotel will not be in the Gateway area as originally planned. I've got mixed feelings on the whole project. I believe it will definitely be a benefit to the region in many ways, yet I voted against its funding. My feeling is that if it's going to be that economically financial, the investors should raise the money for the construction themselves. It's not an appropriate use of taxpayer money in my opinion.

^ Thanks for introducing me to the Transect concept. That makes a lot of sense actually. It eliminated one of my biggest reservations about The New Urbanism concept.

^ I suppose you're right. Thanks for the comment! I like the idea behind The New Urbanism, though I'm not sure that every aspect of it is for me. Maybe TNU plus bigger yards. I don't know.

Does anyone know how The New Urbanism addresses pets? My wife and I are in the process of buying a home in a classic post-WWII neighborhood, mostly composed of ranch style houses. While a ranch style house would not have been my first choice, the home does have one very nice feature: it sits on a lot that is probably about half an acre. I'm very much looking forward to turning my dogs loose in that backyard. Does The New Urbanism have an answer to this problem? A yard seems essential to me to give my dogs room to play, excerise and if nothing else, go to the bathroom. This seeming lack of pet-friendliness is the main thing that would probably hold me back from living in a New Urbanist neighborhood. Please correct me if I'm mischaracterizing this aspect of The New Urbanism.

More information on the upcomming expansion of the Stones River Mall in Murfreesboro has been covered by the Tennessean. You can find the article (including rendering) here: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...7/1152/COUNTY07 There will be 25 new retail and food vendors, and the mall will include an outdoor promenade.

Tallahassee was at one time (and may still be) home to what is believed to be the nation's first home school FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) group, if memory serves. My parents helped start the group, and my brother and I are former members.

Here are two articles recently written for the Rutherford A.M. edition of The Tennessean that deal with aesthetic plans for the Murfreesboro. The first one is particularly interesting, and reveals more about what the Gateway area will look like when completed. Here are the links: http://www.nashvillerage.com/apps/pbcs.dll...4/1353/COUNTY07 http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...0/1353/COUNTY07 Unfortunately the online version of that first article left out the really cool renderings that were in the print version. It's an exciting time to live in the 'Boro!

You bet, and thanks for the encouragment!

According to this article (down near the bottom) it may be next Spring before ground breaks on the open-air shopping center: http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...EWS01/505240313 Here's another article that highlights some of the features of the Gateway Project: http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cf...s&news_id=43495

^ I don't know, but I'll try to find out.

At the MTSU v. UNT football game last Saturday, the free program handed out had an advertisement on the back for the new Stone Gate Corporate Center, including a rendering. Online I found a .pdf file at the Rutherford Chamber Web site which gives further information about the new center. It includes a couple of renderings (including the one from the football program), maps, etc. If you're interested, you can view the file here: http://www.rutherfordchamber.org/images/ne...te-brochure.pdf For those of you who live in Murfreesboro or been through our city recently, you may have seen these new buildings going up already. Murfreesboro is going through a lot of exciting changes right now, and Stone Gate Corporate Center is a part of the wonderful Murfreesboro Gateway Project.