MurfRez

Was over there this week. The JC Penney is up and running. The outside of the store looks great, with much more landscaping than the older, existing parking lot areas. The mall opening near JC Penney is also open, giving an idea of what the renovated interior of the mall is going to look like. The shell of Dillard's is up as well. I think it is funny how The Avenue has been very vocal about coming tenants, while Stones River has kept it hush-hush. I'm sure they're in stiff competition for the smaller mall/lifestyle type tenants.

This was announced prior to The Avenue being announced. There is an article where the developer admits to losing the battle for tenants to The Avenue and obviously Stones River. http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville.../26/story1.html I'm guessing the retail portion of this one is either greatly reduced or at least changed to more of a neighborhood grocery type center. There's simply not enough "lifestyle" to go around.

A few things to keep in mind on this Avenue... It differs from the earlier projects in that it is about half power center..meaning stores like Dick's, Off Broadway, a pet store etc that weren't in earlier avenues..... That will give this a diversity of tenants different from the others. Also....My guess is that we'll see a number of the smaller mall type tenants split with the Stones River Mall Expansion. I also think the square footage of Collierville doesn't count the 200,00 square foot Dillards....they own their own store there. Add that figure in and this Avenue isn't that much larger than Carriage Crossing. Also..does anyone have any idea what part is Phase 1 and what will be phase 2? Never heard that made clear in news reports.

I see people on here all the time slam the way our city is going about attracting the type of development it seeks. We have a great asset in MTSU, a beautiful new area well suited for white collar development, and leaders who, like the way they are going about it or not, are actively working for this type of growth. Maybe they are not from here or too young to remember, but something alot of people don't realize about the CoolSprings area is that prior to the mall and for a good amount of time after it came, there was virtually nothing there. If Franklin had not actively pursued business it may have still been a town of only eighteen thousand far removed from development's radar. Murfreesboro has a population and a tax base(money) much, much larger than Franklin's at that time. If Franklin could attract it as a small, small town sixteen years ago Murfreesboro certainly can now. I'm not saying I want Murfreesboro to be another Franklin. However the very same people who criticize every move the leaders of this "hole" make shouldn't glorify the strengths of Franklin, when Murfreesboro is trying to make a better life for itself much the way Franklin did years ago. CoolSprings is going to fill up, and outside of downtown there aren't an abundance of attractive areas in Nashville proper. Murfreesboro is a little further out, but look at the way the research triangle in North Carolina developed. Should Murfreesboro just stand by and let it go elsewhere and be happy with being a bedroom community and even a suburb to a suburb? Will we get a corporate headquarters? Maybe, maybe not. I believe good things will result from all of this regardless, and I for one appreciate what the city is trying to do.

Also Stonecrest Medical Center, a car dealership and some people who will be glad to do your hair!

I agree its a suburb, but....I know people who commute to all of the following places in Rutherford county from Nashville/Davidson county, Wilson county, Williamson county, and even Sumner County: MTSU, Verizon, State Farm, The VA, Middle Tennesse Medical Center, Nissan, various retail businesses, even a social worker in some housing projects. Not a one of those is in Lavergne.

I live in Murfreesboro, work in Franklin, and have much of my social life in Nashville. People's idea of what "here" is tends to reflect what is involved in their daily life. The people in Brentwood/Franklin and even Spring Hill think anything outside of the stretch of I65 between them and downtown Nashville qualifies as out of town. Hendersonville, Mt Juliet, Smyrna, and Murfreesboro qualify as some other foreign land to them. Truth is...the entire area is very much intertwined economically and socially...it just depends on how you fit in to that scheme. If you work and live only in Murfreesboro I can see how you would think of it as a totally seperate place. Same if you have no reason to ever come to Murfreesboro. Lots of us depend on the other areas aorund here for work and socialization. That's what makes a metropolitan area what it is. Murfreesboro wouldn't exist as it is 100 miles from Nashville. Nor would Nashville be as major an area without Rutherford County. Exurb, Suburb, town outside of Nashville, whatever you want to call it. It's all intermingled. No subforum is my vote. My God, I need more socialization.

I live in Murfreesboro, work in Franklin, and have much of my social life in Nashville. People's idea of what "here" is tends to reflect what is involved in their daily life. The people in Brentwood/Franklin and even Spring Hill think anything outside of the stretch of I65 between them and downtown Nashville qualifies as out of town. Hendersonville, Mt Juliet, Smyrna, and Murfreesboro qualify as some other foreign land to them. Truth is...the entire area is very much intertwined economically and socially...it just depends on how you fit in to that scheme. If you work and live only in Murfreesboro I can see how you would think of it as a totally seperate place. Same if you have no reason to ever come to Murfreesboro. Lots of us depend on the other areas aorund here for work and socialization. That's what makes a metropolitan area what it is. Murfreesboro wouldn't exist as is 100 miles from Nashville. Nor would Nashville be as major an area without Rutherford County. Exurb, Suburb, town outside of Nashvile, whatever you want to call it. It's all intermingled. No subforum is my vote.

Some thoughts in response to many of these comments....Both the Belk and Dillard's being built in Murfreesboro are fairly large 2 level stores(Dillard's is 147,000 and Belk is 132,000.) In a matter of days I think we'll see an announcement on Belk buying the Parisian chain, and if Nordstrom or the investors who recently bought Lord and Taylor don't scoop up the Cool Springs site from Belk, that coupled with the Murfreesboro store might change the image of Belk in the Nashville area. Belk does have better stores than what we've seen from them around here. Don't get me wrong, Parisian has a niche and Cool Springs Parisian becoming Belk will hurt it, but the shopping in Belk's hometown of Charlotte far outpaces Nashville, so they're not all bad. Here is a site plan of The Avenue from Faison.com http://faison.com/files/142/PTY_Avenue_04-06s.pdf. You can also find a space and a description for the Avenue on this architectual firm site, though no pictures are there yet http://www.cmharchitects.com/home.html. You can also see photos of just how nice the other Avenue projects are there. It is sure to be a draw from far beyond Murfreesboro. The Murfreesboro center seems to be half outdoor mall with the department store and smaller mall type shops on one end...and a power center with Off Broadway, Dick's, Petco etc. on the other end. There also seems to be a possible space for another department store near the area across from where it shows Linen and Things and Dick's. Nordstom isn't a remote possibility for Murfreesboro. Parisian would've been a possibility if they weren't about to be retail history. A move from Hickory Hollow to Murfreesboro for Macy's does makes perfect sense. I think they could either locate at The Avenue or Stones River. Since Sears isn't currently expanding with the rest of the mall I could see them moving to a larger freestanding store closer to Medical Center, which would free up space for a two level Macy's at Stones River. If you can get your hands on the plans for the Stones River expansion you will see just how nice it is. I was skeptical that both centers would be able to coexist, but with the type of stores coming and the type of development The Avenue is, I think they may well be able to compliment each other. Any thoughts?