The designer I have been waiting for is Lucian from http://www.emblematiq.com I worked with him once before (he designed HostingDiscussion.com) and I think, his CMS interface skills are fantastic. Every time I snoop around, I find myself drawn to his work: http://www.emblematiq.com/portfolio/complete/
I also contacted www.builtbybuffalo.com and www.jasonsantamaria.com. The Buffalo team is extremely expensive, and Jason was completely booked.

I very much agree that I would rather have an active member of TalkFreelance design the new site. I approached 4 members to design their concepts (not a finished product!) based on a brief website profiler.

http://www.pixairline.com/pic.php?u=4EGiHb&i=1468

http://www.pixairline.com/pic.php?u=4EGiHb&i=1467

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/3944/newtflkyle.jpg

http://www.pixairline.com/pic.php?u=4EGiHb&i=1469


Different approaches, different styles. Now that you have an idea of where we are, it would probably be easier to comment.

@Jordan: I just sent James an email as well.