Oak Ridge Today

Demolition under way, construction could start this fall on Kroger Marketplace

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Kroger Marketplace Site Work

A half-dozen excavators, scrapers, dump trucks, bulldozers, and loaders were moving dirt and debris and knocking down trees late Friday afternoon on the north side of the planned Kroger Marketplace, near Raleigh Road and the former Robin Lane in Oak Ridge.

Demolition work is under way, and construction could start this fall on a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center in Oak Ridge that is expected to include a range of services from a fuel center and sushi shop to a drive-through pharmacy and Baby World.

Demolition at the shopping center—named the Westcott Center in honor of renowned photographer James Edward Westcott—began Monday, July 29, said Glynn Jenkins, director of communications and public relations for the The Kroger Co.’s Atlanta Division. Home demolition work is expected to be completed by Aug. 23.

The demolition of the former Super 8 motel, Vista Inn, and Cancun’s restaurant on Oak Ridge Turnpike and North Illinois Avenue is expected to start next week. [Read more…]

UCOR celebrates two years in Oak Ridge

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Leo Sain at K-25

Leo Sain, president and project manager for cleanup contractor UCOR, near the east wing of the mostly demolished K-25 Building, built to enrich uranium during World War II and also used during the Cold War.

It’s been two years since UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, started working in the Secret City.

UCOR president Leo Sain celebrated with an Aug. 1 letter to employees that thanked them but also issued a reminder and challenge. Read the letter here.

Sain said he is very proud of the workforce—he called the company’s performance spectacular—and said work has been done safely, under budget, and ahead of schedule.

“At the end of two years, we’re one of the safest sites in the U.S. Department of Energy complex,” Sain said. “The credit for that goes entirely to you, the workforce, for staying focused on your work through all the distractions and changing hazards that come with the tasks we perform.” [Read more…]

Machines start moving dirt, debris; knocking down trees at Kroger Marketplace

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Kroger Marketplace Site Work

A half-dozen excavators, scrapers, dump trucks, bulldozers, and loaders move dirt and debris and knock down trees late Friday afternoon on the north side of the planned Kroger Marketplace shopping center in central Oak Ridge. The heavy equipment pictured above is working near Raleigh Road and the former Robin Lane.

An official groundbreaking for the new Kroger Marketplace shopping center hasn’t been announced yet, but a half-dozen bulldozers, dump trucks, excavators, loaders, and scrapers were moving dirt and debris and knocking down trees late Friday afternoon on the north side of the 25-acre site in central Oak Ridge.

The heavy equipment was working near Raleigh Road and the former Robin Lane, just southwest of Grove Center.

Oak Ridge Today has requested more information from a Kroger spokesman in Atlanta and will provide additional details as they become available. [Read more…]

What’s happening in Oak Ridge from Aug. 1-7

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Here is the weekly e-mail from the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, summarizing what’s happening in Oak Ridge from Friday, Aug. 2 to Wednesday, Aug. 7. You may also find information on the events calendar on Oak Ridge Today. [Read more…]

Property values decreasing, some Oak Ridge homes selling for much less than appraised values, county board says

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Anderson County Aerial View

An aerial view of Anderson County north of Oak Ridge.

Anderson County property values are decreasing to less than about 85 percent of their appraised values, and Oak Ridge appears to have several types of property that are selling for much less than their state appraisals, including older, low-priced homes and high-priced, high-quality homes, officials said.

All land tracts in the county also appear to be selling for much less than their state appraisals, the Anderson County Board of Equalization told Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and county commissioners in a July 15 letter.

The board said the Oak Ridge properties selling for much less than their appraised values include low-priced homes built during the Manhattan Project era in World War II and high-priced, high-quality homes that are now unaffordable for most working-class employees. The Oak Ridge properties, as well as land tracts in Anderson County, appear to be selling at about 70 to 85 percent of the state appraised values. [Read more…]

UPF Project Office moves into former Answer Financial building

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UPF Project Office

Employees working on the multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex have consolidated in office space at 90 Union Valley Road across from Y-12, moving there from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information and 1099 Commerce Park.

An office building once used by Answer Financial on Union Valley Road is now home to employees working on the multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The UPF employees now located at 90 Union Valley Road, which is across Scarboro Road from Y-12, were previously split between offices at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information and 1099 Commerce Park, said Bridget Correll Waller, Y-12 community and government relations manager. The new consolidated offices include space for UPF federal staff, project managers, and workers in procurement, security, quality assurance, project services and project controls, and Environment, Safety and Health, or ES&H. [Read more…]

Construction work starts on Aldi grocery

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Aldi Construction

Construction has started on an Aldi grocery store on South Illinois Avenue. Above, construction subcontractors from Bellamy Excavating of Knoxville install a storm sewer on the 1.4-acre site near the relocated, expanded Panera Bread and new Aubrey’s restaurant.

Construction work has started on an Aldi grocery store on South Illinois Avenue.

Under way for about a month, work on the 16,000-square-foot store on 1.4 acres could be finished in November, said Tony Stacy, job superintendent for the project’s general contractor, Creative Structures of Knoxville.

The project at the Woodland Town Center, where the new Aubrey’s and relocated Panera Bread opened in October, was announced in January. [Read more…]

ORNL makes low-cost carbon fiber available to American manufacturers

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Carbon Fiber Technology Facility

Operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility is accepting proposals from companies that want to test low-cost carbon fibers manufactured at the pilot scale plant. Pictured here are textile-grade acrylic fibers entering the first of four oxidation ovens, where they gradually turn from white to yellow, auburn, brown, then black. Once fully oxidized, the fiber is ready to run through the higher-temperature furnaces, which convert the oxidized fiber to carbon fiber. (Submitted photo)

Companies interested in testing the latest in low-cost carbon fiber have a new opportunity to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility.

The CFTF, operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the department’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, opened earlier this year to find ways to reduce carbon fiber production costs and to work with the private sector to stimulate widespread use of the strong, lightweight material.

In its first months of operation, the CFTF used traditional raw materials to assure the new pilot scale manufacturing line would produce a commercial-quality product. With that goal accomplished, the facility now will use less expensive “precursor” materials that can be turned into carbon fiber more cost-effectively. [Read more…]

Perma-Fix announces new VP of Nuclear Services Business Development

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Richard Macon

Richard Macon

Perma-Fix Environmental Services Inc. has announced the promotion of Richard Macon to vice president of Nuclear Services Business Development.

In this role, Macon will be responsible for pursuing opportunities, developing proposal “win themes,” and forming strategic partnerships to further company growth, a press release said. Macon will continue to cultivate relationships with Perma-Fix’s new and existing clients, including the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Defense, commercial nuclear industry, and Canada. [Read more…]

Methodist Medical Center ranked sixth-best in Tennessee

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Methodist Medical Center

Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge has been ranked sixth-best in Tennessee by U.S. News and World Report.

All three of Covenant Health’s major hospitals—Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, Fort Sanders Regional, and Parkwest Medical Center—have been named among the best hospitals in Tennessee by U.S. News and World Report. Each is ranked in the Top 10, a press release said.

Methodist Medical Center is ranked sixth-best in the state, the release said.

It said the annual Best Hospitals ranking recognizes hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients. [Read more…]

Price Florist gets another 30-day reprieve from demolition, repair order

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Price Florist

A city board has declared Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike a nuisance and unfit for human occupation and use, and members have given the property owner 30 days to develop a repair plan, get a demolition permit, or reach an agreement to sell it.

Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike got another 30-day reprieve from a repair or demolition order.

Property owner Patricia Warren of Crossville said she is cleaning up the property and has three serious prospective buyers. Two, including a chain that sells “products that you consume,” would demolish the building, and the third would relocate an existing Oak Ridge business from the edge of town to the 0.35-acre site in the heart of the city, Warren said. [Read more…]

Officials to offer update on Alexander Inn project tonight

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Guest House

The Guest House in Oak Ridge, now known as the Alexander Inn, as it looked during the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II. (Photo by Ed Westcott)

Rick Dover, general manager of the company converting the historic Alexander Inn into an assisted living center, will provide an update on the project during an Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association meeting this evening.

Also present will be Knox Heritage’s Ethiel Garlington, director of preservation field services for the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today (Thursday, July 11) in the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road at the corner of Robertsville Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]