Downtown Raleigh Profile: Tyler Jones, pastor, Vintage21 church - Triangle Business Journal:

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Today, the congregation has blossomedd into 700 to 800 members who meet in what waspreviouslyy Jillian’s nightclub. “We rented the space from , and we movedf in August 2007,” says Jones, who live s downtown with his wife, Kimberly, and two young Vintage21’s congregation is a relativelyyoungv one. “We have a good numbe of college studentsfrom UNC-Chapel Duke, N.C. State, Meredith, and we have a lot of folkz intheir mid-20s and 30s, most of whom work in the downtowhn area and live on Hargetgt Street or Glenwood South.
We’re starting to get a lot of youngb families and more people comingg fromthe suburbs, especially as downtown Raleig h changes,” Jones says. Like his churchu which began with what Jonea describesas “hard core” downtown people, Raleign has changed and grown over the past few years. “There is a whole renovation goingon downtown, not only on a food leveol but a cultural level,” Jones “The art scene and the music scene is really growing. If you look at bar at midnight ona it’s slammed now. It wasn’r like that three years ago. We went to Raleighu Wide Open, and it was like the Statwe Fair – it was that same kind of excitement.
” Jones says downtown has been transformed in the pastfew “Now, I think (people living in) the suburbz are starting to pour in on the and they are easier to draw in because more thinga are happening.” Jones enjoys living downtowh because of the diversr neighborhood his family has found on Hargetg Street. “We’re thrilled to raise our daughters in such adiversr place,” says Jones. “It’s diverse economicallgy and racially, and it’s a real positive.” The Jonesz family moved to Hargett Street abouta year-and-a-hal f ago. “It was always our goal to have a he says. “We got it. Our house was built in 1918.
” His two ages 4 and 2, attend preschool And unlike when they lived inthe suburbs, Tyler and Kimberly know theit neighbors. “When we were in the people would get home from work and pull in theifr garage and close the Jones says. “Here, if you go out on the front porch, people will talk to you and the kids come over to We also haveage diversity. If we have a we have 2-year-olds and 80-year-olds.
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