Murfreesboro Forum

[smeagolsfree]

Hey guys,

 

Just want to let you know that we are going to move the Murfreesboro forum back to the Nashville forum for more exposure. It has been a little dead over there and this may shed a little light on that area. I know they had more traffic at one time, but really feel this is the place for it. I can pin the Boro and Clarkville threads with no problem.

 

I did mail Justiceham and he is not opposed to it either.

 

Thoughts

[Justiceham]

Thanks Smeags!

[timmay143]

I think this is a great idea.

[UTgrad09]

It's a good idea. 

 

But what about just doing Murfreesboro/Rutherford, Franklin/Williamson, and Clarksville/Montgomery pins? That would seem to catch about 95% of the suburban/exurban discussion on this board. 

[MetroTN]

I'm moving to Murfreesboro in 2-3 weeks. I am going to try and keep up with whats going on there and post it on here. I'll be looking for good sources to keep updated with so it may take me a while to post regularly. 

[smeagolsfree]

Great to hear. I think Neo will get the page moved tomorrow. When it is transferred, it can't be reversed.

[Paramount747]

I remember years ago, they had 4-5 more buildings the size of the City Center planned for downtown Murfreesboro. Obviously that never happened, but someone from the city told me they wanted to compete with Nashville and have a downtown the size of Nashville. 30 story towers were not out of the question.

[fieldmarshaldj]

^That doesn't seem remotely feasible, though.

[Neigeville2]

I remember years ago, they had 4-5 more buildings the size of the City Center planned for downtown Murfreesboro. Obviously that never happened, but someone from the city told me they wanted to compete with Nashville and have a downtown the size of Nashville. 30 story towers were not out of the question.

 

I often wonder what happened to the Boro in terms of design and ambition.  As far as I can see it doesn't have the funky boutique retail, dining and drinking establishments you'd expect in a city with even a modest university, much less the largest undergraduate school in the state system, and all the growth that happened in recent years took the form of exurban sprawl. 

 

It has been said on this board that if we consider Smyrna a suburb of Mboro, it is about the size of Chattanooga.   I'm willing to believe that, but, sorry to say it, Chattanooga is about 100 times more impressive a city than Murfreesboro.

[Paramount747]

I often wonder what happened to the Boro in terms of design and ambition.  As far as I can see it doesn't have the funky boutique retail, dining and drinking establishments you'd expect in a city with even a modest university, much less the largest undergraduate school in the state system, and all the growth that happened in recent years took the form of exurban sprawl. 

 

It has been said on this board that if we consider Smyrna a suburb of Mboro, it is about the size of Chattanooga.   I'm willing to believe that, but, sorry to say it, Chattanooga is about 100 times more impressive a city than Murfreesboro.

I agree Chattanooga is a great small city. I think Murfreesboro lacks a planning department that is  willing to create a great downtown. Granted, I have not been there in years, but the last time I went to Murfreesboro, the suburban sprawl was rampant, and downtown was pretty vacant. Shortly after I left MTSU in the 1980's, they revitalized downtown much like the City Of Franklin did. Since the City Center was built, and the new City and County office were built next to the City Center, most development has been in the suburbs.

 

I would have expected condo towers and hotels downtown to support those attending MTSU events, or those wanting to live in downtown that work at MTSU.

 

Murfreesboro could be another Chattanooga or Clarksville, but as of yet, its all going to the suburbs. The 10 story hotel would have looked great downtown had it had some classic architecture. Residential would follow, but I guess that is not a priority.

[MidTenn1]

I like Murfreesboro a lot. They have a lively, active downtown near the square which is well taken care of. 

 

Murfeesboro's biggest challenge has been keeping up with incredible growth (population grew from 60,000 to 100,000 in one decade). But I think they are doing about as well as can be expected. They are always understaffed and behind in planning, permits and traffic control because their staffing goes from adequate to overworked within a year. They are always trying to play catch-up and in my opinion they are doing a great job.

 

 They are doing a remarkable job in playing catch-up with transportation needs. They two new interchanges have been built to relieve pressure off of I-24 and State Route 96. Its still overloaded, but I shudder to think what it would be like without those two new interchanges. The Medical Center Parkway was an excellent project as it not only provided an alternate route into the Boro, but opened up a lot of unused land to development which provides great retail services along with boosting property values in that area. The new interchange proposed for Old Stone Fort and Broadway will help traffic downtown.

 

My major complaint is that I would like to see them improve the older parts of the CIty to encourage more gentrification of the area. I am looking for a home in Murfreesboro and would love to find a craftsman style bungalow within walking distance of downtown, and grocery stores. They could do this, I suppose, with improved zoning to allow more mixed use (no duplexes) and more parks and maybe the occasional round-a-bout to identify a neighborhood.  

 

 

[NashRugger]

Downtown needs to relax its design standards that everything needs to blend in and be brick, which to me is somewhat a deterrent to downtown redevelopment of vacant lots. Areas north and east of downtown have massive amounts of residential that could really be experiencing a rebirth, to the extent of East Nashville if things would get together, mostly the perception it's a dangerous area and also that the city should encourage and promote redevelopment of these locations.

Somewhere in the old sub forum, under a previous name, I proposed a sweeping change to the urban heart and still believe it'd be a great plan.