At a Murfreesboro City Council meeting in April 2017, a representative of the Berkshire Homeowners Association came to talk about the land across Pendleton Boulevard. He described Berkshire as "directly adjacent or across the street facing Pendleton Boulevard" from the planned Westlawn project. He said the association continued to support the development, and he asked that the storefronts be designed to face Berkshire.
Nine years later, those storefronts exist. Between March and September 2026, the section of Veterans Parkway between Franklin Road and Blackman Road added a sit-down chicken restaurant with a full bar, a pho and rice bowl kitchen, a frozen custard counter and a gas station that serves hoagies 24 hours a day. Building permits show more on the way. Lunch, dinner, dessert and a 2 a.m. breakfast burrito are now all on the Berkshire side of town.
One building, four kinds of meal
Most of the change sits in one multi-tenant building at 4310 Veterans Pkwy., near Franklin Road. Fresh Hospitality and the Bodnar Group announced the project in May 2025 for the northeast corner of Veterans Parkway and Jack Byrnes Drive. At the time they named Vui's Kitchen, Waldo's Chicken & Beer and Taziki's as the expected restaurants. By July 2026 the Murfreesboro Pulse listed all three in the building, along with a fourth tenant that had not been on the original list.
| Tenant at 4310 Veterans Pkwy. | Opened | Reported hours | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waldo's Chicken & Beer, Suite A | Ribbon cutting March 3, 2026 | Happy hour 3–6 p.m. daily, all day Tuesdays and Sundays | Fried and rotisserie chicken, full bar, patio, drive-thru |
| Vui's Kitchen | March 9, 2026 | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. daily | Pho, noodles, rice bowls, wings, tacos |
| Taziki's | Reported in the building by July 2026 | Not reported | Third restaurant from the original 2025 announcement |
| Whit's Custard | Reported open by July 2, 2026 | Noon–9 p.m. daily | Custard made fresh daily, shakes, concretes |
Waldo's is the largest of the group. The Murfreesboro location has 91 seats, nine indoor TVs, an expansive patio, a fast-lane drive-thru and 16 draft beers along with cocktails, wine, spiked slushies and margaritas. It is the brand's eighth restaurant in Middle Tennessee and one of 29 across nine states. Family meals and buckets of chicken are available for dine-in or takeout, and the cheddar biscuits are made with hand-grated cheese.
Vui's Kitchen is the fifth location for the Nashville-based brand. Its menu runs from pho and rice bowls to grilled shrimp skewers and salads.
Whit's Custard is the regional chain's third Middle Tennessee shop. Until now its nearest locations were Franklin, where the brand started in 2016, and Spring Hill, where it opened in 2023. Along with vanilla, chocolate and rotating weekly flavors, the menu includes gluten-free, vegan and zero-sugar options.
Put together, one parking lot now covers Asian noodles at lunch, fried chicken and a draft at dinner, and custard afterward. In April, the Pulse also reported that construction had started on an ice cream shop and dental office combination inside the same building.
The corner that fills in the hours the restaurants close
The restaurants at 4310 cover late morning through 9 p.m. Wawa covers the rest of the clock. The store at 5208 Veterans Pkwy., near the Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Westlawn medical building, is open 24 hours a day. Its menu includes coffee, smoothies, hoagies and breakfast items such as biscuits, breakfast burritos, sausage, bacon and eggs.
It opened in September 2026, 13 months after groundbreaking, as Wawa's first store in Rutherford County and its fourth in Tennessee. The Murfreesboro Post counted more than 150 people at the opening celebration. The company also donated $2,500 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, enough to help provide 90,000 meals according to a Second Harvest representative.
Wawa's director of store operations said a Smyrna store and a second Murfreesboro store are planned to open this year. Once those open, the Veterans Parkway store will no longer be the only Wawa in the county.
What's permitted but not yet open
The coffee gap is the next one scheduled to close. On September 10, 2026, the City of Murfreesboro issued a new-construction permit for 7 Brew Coffee at 5114 Veterans Pkwy. The permit covers an 876-square-foot building with J.J.O. Construction listed as the contractor. The Pulse placed the shop in the Westlawn development along Veterans Parkway near Blackman Road.
Here is where the rest of the pipeline stood as of the most recent reports:
- 7 Brew Coffee, 5114 Veterans Pkwy. Permit issued September 10, 2026. No opening date announced.
- Chipotle, Veterans Parkway near Blackman Road. The city's fifth Chipotle was still under construction as of July 2, 2026. No street number or opening date reported.
- Goodwill, Veterans Parkway near Franklin Road. Announced in April 2026 as Goodwill's third Murfreesboro store. No address or opening date reported.
None of the three has a confirmed opening date. The permit and construction reports show these projects are underway, and the next round of business news should fill in the timing.
Where this fall still pulls you off the parkway
Everyday meals are now close to home. Seasonal events are not. This October and November, the dates on the calendar point in two directions. One is east toward Gateway and Medical Center Parkway. The other is straight down Veterans Parkway to Barfield Crescent Park. Here they are in order:
- Saturday, Oct. 10: Pumpkin Fun Run, Gateway Island, 1875 W. College St. Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation opens registration at 3 p.m., and the one-mile run starts at 4 p.m.
- Saturdays through Oct. 31: Movies Under the Stars, Fountains at Gateway, 1500 Medical Center Pkwy. Free screenings start at dark. The remaining films are Finding Dory on Oct. 10, Encanto on Oct. 17, Coco on Oct. 24 and Hocus Pocus on Oct. 31.
- Saturday, Oct. 17: Fall Kids Fest, The Avenue, 2615 Medical Center Pkwy. Runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. behind Belk, with trick-or-treating at The Avenue from noon to 2 p.m.
- Thursday, Oct. 22: Chinwag opens, 1440 Medical Center Pkwy. This is the restaurant from Murfreesboro native Alex Belew, the Hell's Kitchen season 21 winner, and Nashville pitmaster Shane Nasby. It takes over the former Burger Republic space at The Fountains at Gateway.
- Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23–24: Barfield Bash Carnival, Barfield Crescent Park, 697 Veterans Pkwy. Runs 5 to 9 p.m. both nights. The Not So Haunted Hayride goes from 5 p.m. until dusk, and Old Scream Road starts at dark.
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Harvest Days, Cannonsburgh Village, 312 S. Front St. Runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free admission.
- Friday, Oct. 30: Trick or Treat Around the Square, downtown. Runs 3 to 5 p.m.
- Friday, Nov. 13: Fall Harvest Hayride, General Bragg Greenway Trailhead, 1540 W. College St. Runs 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is $5 per person or $20 per family.
Barfield Bash is the one item on this list that stays on Berkshire's own road. Barfield Crescent Park sits at 697 Veterans Pkwy., farther down the same road as the new restaurants. October 24 is the busiest day on the calendar, with Harvest Days downtown in the morning, the second night of Barfield Bash in the evening and Coco at Fountains at Gateway after dark.
For a lower-key Saturday, GO USA Fun Park at 2270 Armory Dr. is running spooky mini golf through Nov. 2. The evening can end back at Whit's Custard on Veterans Parkway, which stays open until 9 p.m.
The hours and dates above come from reports published between March and October 2026. Check them before you head out, especially for Taziki's, whose hours were not reported, and for the three projects that have no opening date yet.
If you live in Berkshire and have been watching the frontage across Pendleton Boulevard fill in, the Janelle Sells Team is glad to talk through what this new commercial stretch means for your home and your plans. Schedule a free consultation and we'll walk you through it in plain, neighborly terms.
