Oak Ridge Today

Board could consider repair, demolition order near Magic Wok on Thursday

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Classic Cleaners

Located in a small shopping center on Tyler and Tyrone roads, Classic Cleaners was given 10 days to vacate in February after the city staff said it found very serious code violations and structural issues in the building, which also houses a handful of other businesses.

A city board on Thursday will again hear the two cases against the owners of a commercial building judged to be “in disrepair” near the Magic Wok restaurant in central Oak Ridge.

In February, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals tabled a demolition or repair order for 60 days to give the owners, Ma Shiu-Yen Wang and Ta-Shun Etal, time to sell the damaged property or develop a repair or demolition plan, the city staff said.

That 60-day postponement expired last Sunday.

The two cases concern the 50,000-square-feet commercial building at 123 and 135 E. Tyrone Road, just north of Oak Ridge Turnpike near Jackson Square. They exclude the manufactured structure that houses the Magic Wok, but they do include the areas in the small shopping center that have housed a dry cleaner, thrift store, wig shop, Mexican grocery, and the Magic Wok’s food preparation and overflow dining areas. [Read more…]

USEC bankruptcy filing won’t affect daily operations in Oak Ridge, company says

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Centrifuge Machine Manufacturing

In Oak Ridge, USEC workers take part in centrifuge operations, testing, and manufacturing for the American Centrifuge Project. (Photos courtesy USEC)

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and financial restructuring plan that USEC Inc. announced last week will not affect daily operations in Oak Ridge or the American Centrifuge Project, a company spokesman said Monday.

The bankruptcy filing and financial plan are a restructuring of the balance sheet of the parent company, USEC Inc., spokesman Paul Jacobson said. He said the company is trying to strengthen its balance sheet and be a stronger sponsor of the American Centrifuge Project, a “next-generation” U.S. uranium enrichment technology. USEC Inc. is a global energy company that is a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

The company currently has 304 people working on the centrifuge program in Tennessee. In Oak Ridge, workers take part in centrifuge operations, testing, and manufacturing.

“This plan for restructuring our debt and equity will have no effect on our employees, who will continue to receive paychecks and benefits in the ordinary course,” Jacobson said. “As we have communicated to our employees previously, some employees will be impacted by several ongoing initiatives that are unrelated to the restructuring.” [Read more…]

Dry cleaner with hole in roof has 10 days to vacate; other shops have 60 days

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Classic Cleaners

Located in a small shopping center on Tyler and Tyrone roads, Classic Cleaners was given 10 days to vacate after the city staff said it found very serious code violations and structural issues in the building, which also houses a handful of other businesses.

Note: This story was last updated at 2:40 p.m.

City officials have deemed a building housing five businesses in central Oak Ridge to be deteriorated and hazardous, and a municipal board has given a longtime dry cleaner located in the small shopping center on Tyrone Road 10 days to vacate.

Meanwhile, a few other businesses also located there—a thrift store, wig shop, and Mexican grocery—have been given 60 days to come up with a plan of action outlining what can be done to stabilize the building.

The order from the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals does not affect the Magic Wok, but it does apply to the restaurant’s food preparation and overflow dining areas.

The partially occupied 50,000-square-feet building is at 123 and 135 E. Tyrone Road, just north of Oak Ridge Turnpike near Jackson Square. It includes Classic Cleaners, Mia’s Gift Shop and Accessories, the New 2 U Thrift Store, and Tienda Nony International Marketplace. The Magic Wok diner is detached from the building and is not affected by the order, which was unanimously approved last Thursday. [Read more…]

State comptroller approves $13 million agreement for Oak Ridge Mall

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Oak Ridge Mall

The Tennessee Comptroller has approved the use of a $13 million tax financing agreement that could be used for the $85 million redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall. The L-shaped mall is pictured at center above.

The Tennessee Comptroller has approved a $13 million tax financing agreement that could be used for the $85 million redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall.

The approval was announced in a Wednesday letter from Tennessee Comptroller Justin P. Wilson to Nashville law firm Bradley, Arant, Boult, and Cummings, which is working with Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that wants to redevelop the mostly empty mall.

The 20-year tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement, would use new property tax revenues generated at the 59-acre site to help pay for development costs, possibly including tearing down the existing space between the two remaining anchor stores, JCPenney and Belk, as well as for replacing aging infrastructure and building new roads. [Read more…]

Price Florist demolished

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Price Florist Demolition

Demolition work at Price Florist began Saturday and could be completed Monday.

Workers began demolishing Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Saturday and could finish the job on Monday.

The work at the longtime floral business in central Oak Ridge is being done by Perkins Trucking and Excavating of Knoxville.

Tony Cappiello of Capiello Real Estate said one of his family’s companies purchased the 0.43-acre property about a month ago for $216,000. He said the seller agreed to demolish the property at her expense since it had been condemned by the City of Oak Ridge.

Cappiello said the property is about as large as the Subway down the street. [Read more…]

JCPenney in Oak Ridge to stay open as 33 stores close across US

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JCPenney at Oak Ridge Mall

JCPenney at the Oak Ridge Mall will stay open as the company closes 33 stores across the United States.

The JCPenney in Oak Ridge will stay open as the retailer closes 33 underperforming stores across the United States.

The list of closures announced Wednesday includes only one Tennessee store, the JCPenney at Northgate Mall in Chattanooga.

The JCPenney in Oak Ridge is at the city’s mostly empty mall, where a $85 million redevelopment has been proposed. Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has had a purchase contract on the mall since January 2013, has said the renovated 59-acre site could open in  2016 and include a mix of retail and office space, a hotel, and up to 50 multi-family residential units, as well as a few restaurants. Belk and JCPenney are expected to stay. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Observer closes after nine-year run

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Oak Ridge Observer

The Oak Ridge Observer, a weekly newspaper housed on the third floor of this building at Oak Ridge Turnpike and New York Avenue, has closed.

Stan R. Mitchell, editor and publisher of the Oak Ridge Observer, announced Wednesday that the weekly newspaper will close after more than nine years in business.

In a note posted on the Observer’s website, Mitchell did not elaborate on the reason for the closure.

“We could just never get the paper where it needed to be,” he said.

“I”m going to avoid getting into all the gritty details and talking about unforeseen circumstances, but it is what it is,” Mitchell wrote on his blog. “The bottom line is this: We couldn’t keep it going any longer, and yet thankfully those circumstances coincided with the serious doubts we’ve had the past year and a half.” [Read more…]

Ole Ben Franklin Motors opens Thursday, sixth new business in south Oak Ridge

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Ole Ben Franklin Motors Building and Sign

Eric Martin of Sign Co. Inc. in Knoxville installs lettering at Ole Ben Franklin Motors on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.

Ole Ben Franklin Motors, the largest independent used car lot in Tennessee, is expanding into Oak Ridge, and the company’s new location on South Illinois Avenue will open Thursday, the owner said Tuesday.

It will be the sixth business to open in a little more than one year in a one-third mile stretch of the busy roadway at the southern entrance to central Oak Ridge.

“We want to be part of (the growth),” said Mike Mencer, owner of the Knoxville-based company.

Mencer said the Ole Ben Franklin Motors lot at the former Dean Stallings Ford could have more than 100 cars when it opens at 9 a.m. Thursday. He said the company has a great selection of used cars, can offer financing through its own bank, and has been in business for 30 years. [Read more…]

Suspects used stolen pickup truck, Bobcat in attempted theft of ATM safe

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Bobcat and ATM Safe from Y-12 Federal Credit Union

Authorities said unknown suspects used this stolen Bobcat in a Christmas morning plot to steal a safe from a standalone ATM in east Oak Ridge. The attempted heist appears to have gone awry after the Bobcat tipped over on its side in a small culvert next to Bogola Road.

Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m.

A stolen pickup truck and Bobcat were used in the unsuccessful Christmas morning plot to steal the safe from a standalone ATM in east Oak Ridge, authorities said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department said the unknown suspects used the truck, stolen from the nearby Waste Connections convenience center, to try to knock the automated teller machine off the concrete pad. When that didn’t work, they allegedly used the Bobcat, which was also stolen from Waste Connections.

The Bobcat demolished the ATM and hauled the ATM several hundred feet away before flipping over in a small culvert next to Bogola Road, which is the Oak Ridge Turnpike entrance to the convenience center. [Read more…]

Bojangles’ restaurant opening in Oak Ridge on Dec. 27

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Bojangles'

Bojangles’ restaurant will open on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge on Friday, Dec. 27.

Bojangles’ restaurant will open in Oak Ridge on Friday, Dec. 27.

The new restaurant is at 490 S. Illinois Ave., just south of the former Dean Stallings Ford.

The company said Bojangles’ is “a Southern-style restaurant famous for serving made-from-scratch biscuits, hand-breaded chicken, and mouth-watering breakfast all day.”

Bojangles’ is offering $100 gift cards to the first 100 customers at 5 a.m. Dec. 27, and one lucky customer will win free breakfasts for a year, a press release said. [Read more…]

String of beer permit hearings ends with no action against three restaurants

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Lincoln's Sports Grille

The city’s beer board took no action against Lincoln’s Sports Grille on Monday, the board’s third show cause hearing of the year for the restaurant and bar on South Illinois Avenue.

The city’s beer board ended an unusual string of hearings for local restaurants and bars this year by taking no action in its last two meetings. Most of the hearings were called after establishments sold beer to a minor during a state sting in March, but a few were related to bar fights.

The final show cause hearing, held Monday, was called after a Nov. 2 fight at Lincoln’s Sports Grille on South Illinois Avenue. The fight started after a highly intoxicated North Carolina man who had refused to pay his bar bill “came after” a male acquaintance who volunteered to cover his tab, the restaurant manager and police officers said.

The previous two show cause hearings in November were for Aubrey’s and Ruby Tuesday, which both sold beer to a minor during a March 18 compliance check by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The two restaurants were among seven establishments cited for selling alcohol to a minor after that sting. The other five were Applebee’s, Hacienda DeGollado, Hidalgo, Lincoln’s, and Moose Lodge No. 1316. [Read more…]

Council agrees to buy car wash to build sewer system tank

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Mullins Car Wash

The Oak Ridge City Council has approved the purchase of Mullins Performance Car Wash in south Oak Ridge to allow the city to build a sewer system holding tank.

A car wash in south Oak Ridge could soon be replaced by a sewer system holding tank.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday voted 5-1 to buy the car wash, owned by businessman Terry Mulllins, for $125,000.

The land is at the southern gateway to Oak Ridge, near the intersection of Scarboro Road and South Illinois Avenue. The city agreed to buy the property so workers can place the proposed tank, officially called an equalization basin, farther away from the busy intersection and make it less visible. The intersection is used by thousands of drivers every day, including workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The tank is one of three equalization basins that the city plans to build in order to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires Oak Ridge to repair all sewer system overflows by September 2015. [Read more…]