[Since this article appeared in the July 2024 edition of the Murfreesboro Pulse, the City of Murfreesboro has announced that Notes Live has failed to meet the requirements of the development agreement for construction of an amphitheater and entertainment complex on Medical Center Parkway and the project will not be moving forward. Under the original development agreement, Notes Live was to begin work on the development no later than June 1, 2023. By request, the city extended the deadline until Dec. 31, 2024, but following indication from Notes Live that it would not begin construction by that date, among other changes to its desired site plans, the city has initiated steps to take the property back per the conditions set forth in the agreement and Notes Live will transfer the 20.13 acres back to the city.]

A few of the major pending development projects in Murfreesboro announced in recent years have reached a hitch, and their status remains unclear.

The One East College project, located in downtown Murfreesboro just off of the Square, has made little progress. This project’s proposed goal was to provide the property with retail spaces, office space, and a 110-room hotel as well as an estimated 55 townhouses. Earlier this year, the City of Murfreesboro issued a notice of default to the project’s developers due to lack of movement on the proposed development, which has remained largely stagnant in the five years since the project’s inception.

Current plans for zoning, including residential, office, retail and structured parking, as well as for preserving the church sanctuary and bell tower, remain in place. The City of Murfreesboro has revoked the Tax Increment Financing that was used to help finance the project. The financial fallout of TIF financing for the developers at One East College, LLC includes the loss of a $9 million deal spread over 15 years to help offset the cost of public infrastructure and parking structure.

One East College, LLC, a group comprising various real estate investors from across the country, failed to secure timely financing required for the approved development plan by the city. As a result, the city terminated its development incentive and agreement.

“At this point, One East College as envisioned in the currently approved zoning appears to lack the financing to move forward,” said assistant Murfreesboro city manager Sam Huddleston. The project at One East College and its vision for added residential housing and retail space isn’t yet down for the count, however. “The City understands that the developer is redesigning the planned mixed-use development and may resubmit the new design for approval by the city in the near future.”

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Notes Live’s development for its Murfreesboro amphitheater and entertainment complex, which initially included outdoor and indoor concert venues and a restaurant, has also seen little progress. The city council approved the project back in 2022, when Notes Live made a commitment to annual payments of $163,000 over 20 years to the City of Murfreesboro for the land.

It is unclear whether the payments have been made to the city since the agreement in 2022, and inquiries to the Colorado-based group behind the project—which has since changed its name to VENU and is currently soliciting investor interest in the project on its website—have gone unreturned.

Although the developer has suggested since the original unveiling of the plans that they would like to increase the amphitheater capacity from its approved 4,500 to a capacity of 6,500, the 20-acre project site on Medical Center Parkway has yet to see construction activity for the complex.

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Legacy Sports’ $350 million Tennessee project, a multi-use sports and entertainment complex on Broad Street, was also announced in 2022, with city officials drumming up attention for the plans and conducting preliminary infrastructure studies. When Legacy Sports declared bankruptcy in 2023, the vision for a 6,000-seat arena with surrounding baseball fields, basketball courts, an ice rink, arcade and more, seemingly fell through. Legacy Sports’ other property, located in Arizona, was reported to be the largest privately-owned multi-sport complex in the country, with the proposed Murfreesboro location to be modeled after the Arizona venue. The developers for the projects have tabled plans for a park in Texas following the recent bankruptcy of the company.

“The private landowner who was working with the development group is currently working on alternative development plans for the land,” said Murfreesboro City Councilmember Austin Maxwell.

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Another development in Murfreesboro that was a hot topic of conversation among residents in 2023 was the proposal for a baseball stadium at Cannonsburgh Village. Project Diamond was pitched by the ownership group responsible for the American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent pro baseball league that includes teams across the Midwest and the South. The project would have resulted in a baseball field built in the heart of Murfreesboro, right in the area where Cannonsburgh Village resides.

Currently, Project Diamond is not expected to become a reality, and city leaders determined that construction costs of a minor league stadium were economically unfeasible for the city.

“The concept of moving forward in Cannonsburgh is currently off the table for the city,” said councilmember Maxwell, “and as a result no change to Cannonsburgh will be made.”