Since I was raised there, met my wife in middle school there (I was in middle school too), and having family that still lives there... It will always be home. Home just looks a lot different now in certain areas. Downtown Auburn has lost a lot of its charm & now looks like a Cincinnati lite. The economic growth can only be good for the place we love, though. Just a shame it had to be so drastic visually.
Yep, other than that little stretch of College right there at Toomer's Corner, downtown Auburn is a totally different place. But, I will have to say that despite the nostalgia, and wanting to hang on to the "Auburn I knew", that city is badass, and there's a shit load of money that's poured in. There's so many neighborhoods that you drive by and go, "Who got all dat damn cash?"
Some of my in-laws moved there a couple of years ago, and I guess they answered that question. I'll go up there on game day and say, "Naw, y'all go on to the game. I'm gonna' hang here at the crib and watch the place for you. Bad element up here, and all that."