Oak Ridge Today

Photos: Old AMSE building being demolished

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The former American Museum of Science and Energy building on South Tulane Avenue is being demolished, and apartments are planned on the site. (Photo courtesy Mike Mahathy)

The former American Museum of Science and Energy building is being demolished, and apartments are planned on the site.

The apartment project is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.

Now called Main Street Lofts, the $32 million apartment project has included an agreement to reduce property taxes and the transfer of what had been federal property from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city and then to TN Oak Ridge Illinois, a company affiliated with RealtyLink, the developer of Main Street Oak Ridge.

The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina company, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.

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Pierce Physical Therapy introduces new physical therapist

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Jocelyn Miller, left, and Ray Pierce of Pierce Physical Therapy are pictured above. (Photo by Kenton Pryor)

Pierce Physical Therapy has introduced a new physical therapist, Jocelyn Miller.

Here is more information about Miller:

Jocelyn Miller, PT, DPT

Born and raised in the rolling hills of southern Indiana, Jocelyn received her bachelor’s degree with honors in anthropology from Indiana University.

She then moved to California, receiving a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Stanford University.

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Data center could be built on Summit, tax incentive to be considered

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This building of about 30,000 square feet on Pine Ridge, also known as The Summit, was once used to store documents for the Y-12 National Security Complex. It could now be used for a data center. The Summit is on Pine Ridge along South Illinois Avenue between Scarboro Road/Lafayette Drive and Centrifuge Way. It’s pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A data center could be built in an existing building on Pine Ridge, also known as The Summit, off South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The project has been proposed by GIGA Data Centers of Atlanta.

The data center would be in the building on The Summit that was once used by the Y-12 National Security Complex to store documents. The building, which is about 30,000 square feet, would be retrofitted.

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UCOR cleanup contract extended

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The East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site), which is pictured above, is being cleaned up by UCOR for the U.S. Department of Energy. (Photo by UCOR)

The UCOR contract to clean up federal sites in Oak Ridge has been extended one year to July 31, 2021, and the consideration of a new cleanup contract won’t be considered until November 2020 at the earliest.

The UCOR contract could be extended one additional year, to July 31, 2022, using two six-month options, depending upon contractor performance and progress.

Before the extension, UCOR’s contract had been scheduled to expire July 31, 2020.

UCOR works on cleanup projects for the U.S. Department of Energy at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. The work includes the demolition of old, contaminated buildings that are no longer used. The cleanup work is called environmental management, or EM.

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ETEC honors Hot Bagel owners with ‘Muddy Bagel’ Award

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Donna and Tom Sullivan, owners of Hot Bagel Company, were celebrated Friday morning, May 29, 2020, with a Muddy Bagel Award from the East Tennessee Economic Council for their community service for more than 25 years. At left is ETEC President Jim Campbell. (Submitted photo)

Donna and Tom Sullivan, owners of Hot Bagel Company, were celebrated Friday morning with a Muddy Bagel Award for their community service for more than 25 years.

The Muddy Bagel Award is a spin-off of the Muddy Boot Award. That award from the East Tennessee Economic Council has been given for many years to people who “go above the call of duty to make the community a better place to live and work.”

The Sullivans are retiring. Hot Bagel has been the caterer for ETEC since 1995.

The Muddy Bagel Award was presented during a Zoom meeting of ETEC’s Board of Directors on Friday morning.

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JCPenney re-opens in Oak Ridge

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JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, May 15, 2020, after closing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Oak Ridge store, pictured above on May 5, has re-opened. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The JCPenney store in Oak Ridge has re-opened. The store is in Main Street Oak Ridge in the center of the city.

The store is open limited hours: from 12-7 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday.

There are dedicated hours for at-risk customers: 11 a.m.-12 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday. At-risk customers include the elderly, pregnant women, and people with underlying health issues.

It hadn’t been clear if the Oak Ridge store, which had been temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, would re-open after JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, May 15.

But it is now open. Customers can enter through the doors on the Cinemark Tinseltown side of the store.

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Oak Ridge plans a downtown; chalk art on Saturday will promote it

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A view looking south onto West Main Street into a proposed area of restaurants and shops surrounding a landscaped courtyard off Wilson Street. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

A chalk art event on Saturday will promote a proposal to build a downtown area that could include apartments and condominiums, restaurants and stores, and green space and an outdoor performance space at Wilson Street on the north side of Main Street Oak Ridge.

The chalk art event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 23. It will feature 15 professional artists, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release.

It’s called “Paint the Town with Chalk,” and it will help people visualize what the downtown area could be like, the press release said.

Oak Ridge was built to help make the world’s first atomic bombs as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II, and officials say the city was built without a distinct downtown for national security reasons. Now, they are trying to change that.

The goal is to transform the Wilson Street area into the city’s new downtown, according to a presentation last fall by Oak Ridge Community Development Director Wayne Blasius.

The downtown area could include:

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Watch briefing about proposed motorsports park on Monday

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Horizon-Center-Motorsports-Track-Site-1-Feb-11-2020
Part of the site where a test track and research facility or motorsports park could be built on the back side of Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

There will be a briefing on Monday afternoon about the proposed Oak Ridge Motorsports Park at Horizon Center, and you can watch it online.

Oak Ridge Today has reported that the proposed project could cover more than 300 acres at Horizon Center, an industrial and business park in west Oak Ridge, and it could cost more than $50 million.

In February, H.E. Bittle III of Hardin Valley Land Partners, the potential developer, told city officials that the planned motorsports park would have a road course that is suitable for events sanctioned by the FIA (Federation Internationale de L’Automobile) such as Formula E, Indy Car, IMSA, NASA, and other sanctioning bodies.

Besides the race course, the motorsports park would have an amphitheater with a mix of permanent and lawn seating for more than 7,000 people, similar to the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Bittle said.

Other planned amenities, he said, include a karting track, paddock club, club house, restaurants, pro shop, garages, day and overnight lodging, meeting and conference space, a recreational vehicle park, and public facilities that would include walking trails and outdoor meeting spaces.

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JCPenney files for bankruptcy; Oak Ridge store remains closed

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JCPenney filed for bankruptcy on Friday, May 15, 2020, and the Oak Ridge store, pictured above on May 5, remains closed. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 3 p.m. May 20.

Saddled with debt and already struggling, JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday after closing its stores because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Oak Ridge store remains closed.

It’s not clear if or when the Oak Ridge store will re-open. It’s listed as temporarily closed.

Other JCPenney stores that are listed as temporarily closed in the area include locations in Turkey Creek in Farragut, West Town Mall in Knoxville, and Foothills Mall in Maryville.

JCPenney is the largest retailer to file for bankruptcy protection since the COVID-19 pandemic forced stores to temporarily close, according to CBS News.

There are only two JCPenney stores open in Tennessee. They are both near Nashville in Middle Tennessee. One is in Mt. Juliet, and the other is in Murfreesboro.

The company closed its stores and offices about two months ago, on March 18, because of COVID-19. It temporarily furloughed most hourly store employees starting April 2.

In a press release Friday, JCPenney said it will close stores in phases during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But details about the specific stores and their closing dates haven’t been announced.

JCPenney didn’t initially say how many stores might close, but over the weekend, there were reports that the company planned to close almost 30 percent of its 846 stores—about 192 stores by February and another 50 in 2022. That will leave the company, one of America’s most well-known chains, with just over 600 stores. Before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the United States, JCPenney had announced plans to close six of its stores in April, according to CNN.

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For members: New stores planned at Main Street, but construction suspended

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A crew works in the area of the second phase of construction of Main Street Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 5, 2020. The construction work has since been suspended. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 7:45 p.m.

Four new stores are planned at Main Street Oak Ridge, but construction has been suspended for now.

 

A crew works in the area of the second phase of construction of Main Street Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 5, 2020. The construction work has since been suspended. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Four new stores are planned at Main Street Oak Ridge, but construction has been suspended for now.

The four new stores are Five Below, Home Goods, Old Navy, and Ross Dress for Less. The retailers have signed leases, and their stores could be ready to open as soon as the spring of 2021, said Neil Wilson, principal of the development company, TN Oak Ridge Rutgers LLC. The new stores would be between JCPenney and PetSmart. That includes some of the area where the roundabout used to be.

But construction of the building that would contain the new stores has been suspended.

“Retailers are postponing the opening of new stores and re-thinking the size and configuration of store footprints,” Wilson told Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson in an April 20 letter. “As a result, the retail developers are delaying the construction of the building to house those new stores.”

Wilson said TN Oak Ridge Rutgers LLC is trying hard to get the project back into its development timeline in 60 days. The storage facility, which has previously been considered by city officials, is part of the effort to get the project back on track, he said.

Wilson said retailers are suffering because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the estimated growth in global retail for 2020 will be cut in half from the levels that were forecast before COVID-19.

The types of stores that will be hit the hardest are “short-term, fashion, furniture, and electronics retailers,” Wilson said. Customers will buy fewer of those discretionary items, choosing instead to stock up on food and household supplies.

But in the meantime, construction could proceed quickly on a three-story self-storage facility at Main Street Oak Ridge. It would be along Rutgers Avenue, behind Burkes Outlet, Electronic Express, and PetSmart. The self-storage market is doing well, Wilson said.

Some residents and city officials, including members of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission, have opposed the proposed self-storage facility or shown little interest in it.

But in a split vote Monday, the Oak Ridge City Council voted 4-3 to approve a zoning change that could allow it. The zoning ordinance amendment, which did not specifically approve the Main Street Oak Ridge project, is expected to be considered for final approval during another City Council meeting in June.

The rest of this story, which includes background information and information about the City Council vote, is available if you are a member: an advertiser, sponsor, or subscriber to Oak Ridge Today.

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Restaurants, retailers can re-open in AC, Oak Ridge

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Restaurants were allowed to re-open under certain guidelines in 89 of the state’s 95 counties on Monday, and retail stores can re-open under similar guidelines on Wednesday.

The guidelines include operating at 50 percent capacity and maintaining social distance (generally keeping people at least six feet apart). The state recommends no live music, and restaurant bars should be kept closed. The state also recommends that employees in both industries wear cloth face coverings and that business owners follow federal guidelines for hygiene and workplace sanitation standards for COVID-19.

The 85 counties where restaurants and retail stores can re-open include Anderson and Roane counties.

Many businesses have been closed or operating under changed conditions as Tennessee, like other states and countries, tried to reduce the spread of COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.

“Tennesseans pulled together to flatten the curve, and it is time for people to begin to get back to work and back to their businesses,” Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said. “We are pursuing a careful, measured approach to reopening our economy that does not depend on heavy-handed mandates but instead provides practical tools for businesses of all sizes.”

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For members: Layoffs announced at movie theater, car dealer

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Cinemark Tinseltown Theater is temporarily closed. The theater is pictured above on Friday, March 20, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Layoffs have been announced at an Oak Ridge movie theater and car dealership as well as at a fast food restaurant that could start renovations next month. Two Oak Ridge hotels have also announced layoffs.

The layoffs were announced as Tennessee reported that more than 300,000 unemployment claims were filed in the past four weeks. Parts of the economy have been shut down, and residents are required to stay at home unless they are conducting essential activities. Tennessee, along with the rest of the country and the world, is trying to slow the spread of COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.

Thirty-five workers were affected by layoffs at the movie theater, Cinemark Tinseltown USA, according to a notice posted by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Friday. The layoffs were effective March 26.

The theater, which is at Main Street Oak Ridge in the center of the city, has been temporarily closed.

The closure of Cinemark theaters across the United States is temporary and a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, spokesperson Caitlin Piper said Saturday.

“The health and safety of our employees, guests, and communities is a top priority, and we look forward to once again hiring employees and welcoming moviegoers to experience the magic of cinematic storytelling on our big screens when it is safe to do so,” Piper said. “Again, these Cinemark theatre closures across the U.S. are temporary.”

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