Reconstructed I-635 leads the list of 2009 highlights in Mesquite

Here are the major notes from Mayor John Monaco's State of the City Address Friday night at the Mesquite Convention Center. I'll post a link to the full text of the speech as it becomes available on the city Web site.

The city's 4B sales tax was credited with moving the timeline up for the completion of Interstate 635 construction a full 11 years ... and in time for the 2009 holiday shopping season.
The SuperTarget that opened in October not only renovated the Market East Shopping Center, it employs 200 more people than the Target it replaced. SuperTarget was honored later in the evening as the Chamber of Commerce's Large Business of the Year in Mesquite.
SuperTarget, Market East and the yet undefined City Center project on land behind Market East were named a finalist for hte Dallas Business Journal's Real Estate Deal of the Year award for D/FW.
New ownership and updates to the Resistol Arena will protect a tradition that has helped define the city for more than 50 years. The Real Texas Festival next door to the rodeo is an image builder that drew 23,000 in 2009.
Capstar Commercial Real Estate Services and the Cam-Bay Group are nearing completion of a $35 million project to build one of the nation's largest data storage centers in a 770,000 square foot facility in the Skyline Trade Center.
The city will lead the charge in "going green" with its new municipal government building which broke ground last month. Its recently completed police station "is the most energy conscious building in our local government."
Eastfield College built upon its standing as one of the city's strongest and longest-term partners with completion of its workforce training and child development centers.
The three-mile addition to the South Mesquite Creek Trail was a key connector in the city's master trail plan.
Mesquite Specialty Hospital and Dallas Regional Medical Center made significant expansions.
The sports complex at the former Big Town Mall site and the Peachtree Town Center projects have run into funding difficulties and are on hold.
The city seeks to have a connector to the light rail Green Line in place by 2020.

Source:mesquiteblog.dallasnews.com/