Neil Wilson, left, principal of RealtyLink, gives an update on the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall at an Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce Rise and Shine at TNBank on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 11:15 a.m.
The new company leading the project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall plans to close on the property on December 15, an executive said Tuesday. It’s the first time a closing date has been announced by one of the developers associated with the project.
The new developer, RealtyLink, plans to have a minimum of seven stores open by Christmas 2016, Principal Neil Wilson said. That would include four stores adjacent to Belk and two adjacent to Walmart.
Wilson declined to name the stores but said the new mixed-use development, called Main Street Oak Ridge, could include a sporting goods store, a cosmetics retailer, one or two apparel merchants, and a 20,000-square-foot electronics shop that has signed a letter of intent. There could be a total of about 150,000 square feet of retail in those stores. There are roughly 130,000 square feet of retail at JCPenney and Belk, which will have a new facade and entrance.
Wilson said his company, which is based in Greenville, South Carolina, wants to start demolition on the enclosed spaces between the two remaining anchors, Belk and JCPenney, the day after it closes on the purchase of the roughly 60-acre property in the center of Oak Ridge.
RealtyLink took over as master developer in September, replacing Crosland Southeast, a North Carolina firm that had worked on the $80 redevelopment project for more than two years and invested more than $1 million.
“The project itself is a very complex project,” Wilson told 150 or so people at a Tuesday morning Rise and Shine business event organized by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. It’s probably the “second or third most complex project I’ve ever worked on,” Wilson said.
Tasks include “demalling” the current site and building back a new shopping center while keeping Belk and JCPenney open. There is utility work that has to be done without interrupting existing operations.
Wilson said the old Oak Ridge City Center signs are coming down when RealtyLink closes on the property, and new signs are going up.
“If you can split the atom, you all deserve a good mall,” Wilson said, referring to the history of Oak Ridge and its ongoing nuclear work and energy research.
In other developments announced Tuesday, RealtyLink said it:
- has a contractor on board,
- is working on a third apparel store,
- has signed a letter of intent with a hotel,
- is working with a multifamily developer,
- has six leases and one letter of intent, and
- is working with a potential anchor store close to Belk and JCPenney.
There is still more than 75,000 square feet available to lease, Wilson said.
He said demolition could take four months and be complete by the end of March or early April. Construction could start April 1. RealtyLink plans to turn over the seven new stores to retailers in September 2016, and they could open in October, in time for the holiday season.
Small stores could open later.
Main Street Oak Ridge would include retailers, restaurants, a hotel, and about 200 residential units, which could be in four- to five-story buildings with retail on the ground floor. The project could be complete by December 2018.
RealtyLink is working with the city on permits, Wilson said. The company negotiated with Crosland Southeast to purchase their “due diligence,” which included engineering drawings and architectural drawings.
RealtyLink, a company that has grown from a $30 million firm in 2009 to $200 million today, has shown an interest in the redevelopment for several years.
Main Street Oak Ridge could have a total of 460,000 square feet of retail, including Belk and JCPenney. That’s an increase of about 60,000 square feet, compared to what Crosland Southeast had proposed. RealtyLink recently said that about 300,000 square feet is already “spoken for†through confirmed leases and letters of intent from national retailers.
The company has said demolition could start at Sears and go counterclockwise around the site. Construction could follow a similar pattern.
Some minor changes have been made to the $13 million tax increment financing, or TIF, package that will be used for the redevelopment. Those changes have been approved by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, Oak Ridge City Council, and Anderson County Commission. The IDB approved the changes on a voice vote with no opposition during a special meeting Monday, October 19. The County Commission approved them 15-0 that night. The City Council approved them 6-1 during a special meeting on Tuesday, October 20.
See previous story here.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
About 150 or so people turned out for a Rise and Shine business event at TNBank on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015, to hear an update on the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Neil Wilson, principal of RealtyLink, gives an update on the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall at an Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce Rise and Shine at TNBank on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Joseph Lee says
This is great news for our city. Thank you RealtyLink and welcome to Oak Ridge.
Will Smith says
Let me make a recommendation to the editor. Based on my observations around town, there is still a great deal of misinformation in the minds of many residents regarding the mall property redevelopment. Some folks obviously don’t understand the covenant that exists on the property and still think that a “big box” store (like Target) can be built on the site. Some still think that the city somehow can direct what is to be built or the speed at which the development proceeds. Some seem to think that the mall is going to be replaced with a mall (as opposed to a shopping area, apartments, and a hotel). Others don’t understand the overall complexity of the development, comparing it to the Kroger development (where Kroger decided they wanted a new store and essentially wrote a check to their developer and waited for their store to be constructed – a vastly different proposition when compared to what has to happen with the mall property). Perhaps yet another story covering all of the issues with the redevelopment of the property would be in order to help educate the public one more time.
Philip W Nipper says
I agree with your comments Mr. Smith. There always seems to be a number of people who have the wrong information regarding the various happenings in town. Don’t know if it is by design or simply due to ignorance. I would say the city does not do a very good job in providing updates and basic information on a routine basis regarding projects and so forth. Yes, those who want to spend the time to seek out the information can usually find some but not all. I would like to see something like a monthly or quarterly city’s manager report to the citizens to explain the different jobs and provide progress updates for our most noteworthy projects. Examples include; storm water collection tank status, tank beautification schemes (if any) and projected completion dates, Jackson Square project completion date, sewer main project status, etc. Answers to the questions I cited should not be a secret and should not be hard to find.
Joseph Lee says
This is true Mr. Nipper. The segment of the population that choose to fabricate facts are “The Negatrons”. We, unfortunately, have a sack full of them in Oak Ridge. Thank you.
Will Smith says
With the publication of his treatise in the Oak Ridger today, we have yet another “Negatron” example from Mr. Abbatiello. People who are all too willing to identify symptoms, but offering no cures. Another prominent example is Mr. McBride and his fixation of where people live. It’s easy to complain and point out issues, but it’s much harder to actually do something to help the situation. It appears that the football boosters are finding this out as evidenced by Mr. Chinn’s somewhat disheartening refusal to comment on how much money has been raised towards their overly ambitious plans for Blankenship Field – but at least they are trying to do something positive. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Mr. Abbatiello or Mr. McBride, instead of complaining about things, actually took some sort of positive action? Like maybe spearheading an effort to create a public utility to install a city wide fiber optic network for ultrafast internet access like what has been done in Chattanooga and Morristown? Would such a thing be easy? Unquestionably, no. Would it be a great asset to Oak Ridge in attracting residents and businesses? Unquestionably, YES. Doing nothing but wringing ones hands almost always leads to the same result, nothing. Even if one tries and fails, it almost always is better than just complaining.
Joseph Lee says
This is true. The easy part is identifying a problem. The hard part is moving forward with a solution. Someone should remind Ms. Baughn that you need at least four votes in this town to do anything. While they are at it they might also remind Ms. Garcia-Garland that two votes won’t cut it either. The last time those two put four votes together it cost this city $500,000 a year in revenue. Thanks a lot.
While I welcome RealityLink to our city I believe that the condition of our housing stock is the key to resolving many of the issues we face. The redevelopment of Main Street Oak Ridge is a big step in the right direction and has my full support. The votes have been cast and counted. 31-1. Enough said. Thank you.
Sam Hopwood says
Then why don’t you take the lead in pressing for a city wide fiber optic network rather than whining and wringing your hands about it? Oh, you would rather just whine. Got it…
Will Smith says
I’m not the one who is complaining about the city, Sam. But then it’s not too surprising that you can’t tell the difference.
Sam Hopwood says
I knew you would not have the backbone to do it. No surprise there.
Will Smith says
And what exactly have you done lately (or ever, for that matter) for Oak Ridge, Sam? Other than complain about the school board, the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, etc? Again, you can’t see the point, and that’s not a surprise.
Will Smith says
All good suggestions, but some, if not most of them are already reported in the local media (the News-Sentinel, the Oak Ridger, and this site), The problem is that fewer and fewer people seem to be relying on print media and other legitimate sources of information, apparently preferring instead to get their information from Facebook and other social media sites. Here’s a simple example. On one of the Facebook sites, someone actually asked what the hours were for a local restaurant (another favorite question is where something is located). They did this when they obviously have access to the internet and a simple query to Google would have provided the answer. One can see this sort of thing happen over and over again. Another segment of the population is the group of people who in the olden days would have been the town gossips. They hear a siren (or even see a police car go speeding by) and immediately consult Facebook asking what is going on. A subset of this group apparently spend their day listening to a police/fire scanner so that they can “be in the know” and show off their knowledge to the other gossips on Facebook. It can all get quite sad, really.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
It was supposed to be this month. Now next month is the word. Yawn…… More TIF and less stores.
Will Smith says
Again, you seem to have difficulty with English. The TIF remains at the sam amount. There is more retail space now in the plans. The delay is because of the developer change. What are you going to say when everything gets squared away and the bulldozers roll?