Image from Oak Ridge Community Development Department’s staff report for TN Oak Ridge Illinois PUD Final Master Plan, to be considered by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, March 8, 2018. This image shows the location and types of businesses that could locate on the 7.4-acre site.
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday will consider a final master plan for about seven acres of land south of the American Museum of Science and Energy, property that was once part of the museum site.
During Thursday’s special meeting, the Planning Commission is scheduled to consider a final master plan for a planned unit development, or PUD, for the 7.4 acres, which is at the intersection of South Tulane Avenue and South Illinois Avenue.
The plan is to be submitted by TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC, a company affiliated with RealtyLink, which is developing Main Street Oak Ridge at the former Oak Ridge Mall. A copy of the PUD final master plan wasn’t available Monday afternoon.
The special meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue. A work session will follow at 6 p.m.
The Planning Commission recommended a rezoning for the property and the Oak Ridge City Council approved it last year.
Council has already approved a PUD preliminary master plan for the project.
The vacant land could be developed with a grocery store, retail shops, and restaurants, according to plans discussed in October and November.
A rezoning map filed with the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission meeting in October showed a grocery or large retail store of about 55,000 square feet could be built on the property. So could three smaller retail or restaurant buildings of about 4,000 to 7,000 square feet.
In November, Neil Wilson of RealtyLink said the company is working with a grocery store that could build on the former AMSE property, but he declined to name the grocery store. The store hasn’t signed a lease yet, Wilson said at the time, and RealtyLink could know more about the project this March.
If the grocery store project proceeds, construction could start in 2018, and the new store could open in 2019, Wilson said in November.
He said there are between five and 10 grocery stores of between about 50,000 and 55,000 square feet.
The 7.4 acres, which was the southernmost portion of the AMSE site, could also have smaller shops, possibly including a tire store, a restaurant, and one other business, Wilson said.
It’s not clear if any of those plans have changed since November.
The property was once part of the AMSE property and owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, but it has since been transferred to the City of Oak Ridge and then to TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC as part of an agreement signed in late December 2016.
Update: See newer story here.
See previous story here.
Learn more about the property here.
See the Planning Commission special meeting agenda here.
See the work session agenda here.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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