Tennessee mayor channels Tom Cruise for State of the City address, says 'Mission Possible'
Franklin showed its creative side during its annual state of the city address earlier this month.
The event began with a video presentation that involved Mayor Ken Moore running through town, watching a self-destructing "mission" tape and rappelling from a ceiling Tom Cruise-style while on his way to deliver the address, which included several city accomplishments from 2023 and plans for the future.
“Over the past year, Franklin sent the world a message. We said that we like what’s going on and we are a community that builds, not tears down,” Moore said during his remarks. He reiterated the city's theme of “Mission Possible," and told a large crowd of over 300 residents that Franklin was on track to either complete or start a number of projects in the coming months.
Here are the main takeaways from the presentation:
The City Hall project
Since 2020, there have been plans to expand Franklin's current city hall building, Moore said, adding that the hope is to make it one of the jewels of Franklin.
Four years later, funding has been approved and plans are coming along. The new building will feature a variety of new additions to ease traffic and draw more people into downtown.
“We want to create a one-acre park on the corner of Third Avenue and Church Street to serve as a meeting space for the community,” said Anna Ruth Kimbrough, of Studio Eight Design.
“The new city hall will also feature shops for local business, various community amenities and underground parking to alleviate the structure on Second Avenue.”
The $100 million project is set to be three stories and 96,000 gross square feet upon its completion, city leaders noted. If everything goes according to plan, the new city hall should be ready by 2027.
A budget overview
Franklin City Administrator Eric Stuckey released his recommended budget for fiscal year 2024-2025 on May 6.
“We have added a competitive pay adjustment for city teams along with keeping our property rate the same, at $0.3261 per $100 of assessed value, which is the lowest in Tennessee for a population of 50,000 or greater,” he said.
New business update
Construction at The Factory at Franklin has been a huge priority with the addition of several new businesses relocating to the area.
“In the (coming) months, visitors will see new restaurants, a bubble tea shop and even a yoga studio open in this space,” said Alderman Matt Brown and Allen Arender, of Holladay Properties. “Another batch of restaurants, like Slim + Husky, is set to open in the fall.”
Details on specific businesses were not immediately available.
The Factory will also restart its history tours this summer along with an Art Crawl, which has been expanded, adding more cultural options for visitors and residents. Specific details were not immediately shared.
Infrastructure gets a boost
The McEwen Phase 4 project is waiting on confirmation from the Tennessee Department of Transportation to move into the construction phase. The project was originally announced in 2020 when funding was secured. The city is receiving up to$22.4 million in Federal Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) funds to help pay for the project, leaders said.
Upon its completion, the project is set to connect the east side Franklin to Cool Springs, add additional streetlights along with ADA-compliant sidewalks and a multi-use path. Once construction starts, it is scheduled to take about three years from start to finish, according to City Engineer Paul Holzen.
City officials have also noted that the water reclamation facility project, which got underway in 2018 with the goal of upgrading the city's current capacity of 12 million gallons per day to 16 million gallons per day, has been completed. A ribbon cutting was held May 8 for the $132.8 million dollar project.
For more information about Franklin and other upcoming projects, visit www.franklintn.gov/our-city.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Growth, plans, Tom Cruise: Middle Tennessee city address has it all
