The Franklin insurance executive of National Insurance Co. and his wife have given $1 million to the YMCA proposed for Franklin, claiming the naming rights to the new complex located just north of the Northwestern Mutual Networks Franklin campus.

As you may remember, Northwestern donated the 4.3 million dollar, 18 acre, piece of land the complex will be built on.

With these donations plus 1.4 to 2 million in additional fund raising, the YMCA is looking to open its doors in Franklin in the spring of 2009.

The 45,000-square-foot Franklin center being marketed as a "Healthy Lifestyle Village," in collaboration with Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is expected to include an indoor track, multi-lane swimming pool, group exercise studios and a child care center. A medical clinic and physician’s offices will be built by the Wheaton’s adjacent to the YMCA.

I might be a little late on this one but, during my Sabatical in the month of January I missed this little tidbit in the news. 

Could our local FranklinNOW food critic be luring Cameron's Steakhouse to Franklin some time in the future? Has he been having private conversations with Cameron Mitchell too? After all Cameron Mitchell operates Mitchell’s Fish Market at Brookfield Square Mall.

Or given all the hype of "upscale dining" at the affluent Bayshore Town Center, would the push for "upscale dining" here in Franklin tank also?

In case it has escaped you, a new retail expansion development due to open this spring has been going up on the south side of the Lowes Home Center. This development has a town center flavor and has a southern exposure to Rawson Avenue. Unlike most of the retail developments that we have seen on 27^th street, you notice that there is four sided architecture with multi-architectural elements not seen on most so called strip malls.  The available square footage of the Lowes Development is approximately 11 to 14 thousand square feet of retail space.