The Belk store at the Oak Ridge City Center, which could be redeveloped as Main Street Oak Ridge, is pictured above.
There will be a presentation on Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall, during a Monday evening meeting.
The joint meeting will include the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission and the Traffic Safety Advisory Board. It starts at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 16, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.
The presentation will be given by Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has proposed the redevelopment, and Cannon and Cannon Engineering.
The joint meeting will be preceded by a meet and greet that starts at 4:30 p.m. It will feature representatives of Crosland Southeast, Cannon and Cannon Inc., and city staff members. They will be available to discuss the project, answer questions, and elicit feedback. Design boards and the master planned unit development (PUD) plan will be available for viewing.
Ray Evans, the city’s retail consultant, said Cannon and Cannon submitted a request on Monday to rezone the property to UB-2 (a unified general business district) with a planned unit development, or PUD, overlay. The Planning Commission is expected to consider that request on March 26, and the Oak Ridge City Council could consider it in April.
In late February, James Downs of Crosland Southeast said leasing, financing, and pre-construction work on the project is progressing as planned.
A change to the city’s zoning ordinance approved by the Oak Ridge City Council in the first of two monthly readings on Monday will help the redevelopment.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Philip W Nipper says
John, do you know what the plan is for the current privately owned streets (Main Street, Wilson, etc) in the “downtown” area? Will they remain privately owned or become city owned streets? Personally, I would like to see the streets turned over to the city so future upkeep and repairs can be performed better than we have experienced over many years with these privately owned streets. The current state of these streets are awful. I am sure some of the damage has been caused by our recent weather but most of the issues have been around for many moons.
johnhuotari says
Philip, I don’t know the answer to that question, but maybe some of those types of questions will be discussed at the Monday meeting since it includes the Traffic Safety Advisory Board. I do plan to attend that meeting. In the meantime, if I hear anything else, I will let try to share it here. Thank you.
Ray Evans says
Wilson Street and the two Main Streets will be reconstructed to public road standards and dedicated to the City as public streets.
Philip W Nipper says
Thanks Mr. Evans, that is good news!