• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • 2018 Election
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries












Applewood Apartments buildings demolished

Posted at 1:28 pm July 10, 2018
By John Huotari 4 Comments

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building at Hillside Road and West Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building at Hillside Road and West Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long legal dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished.

Brady Excavating and Demolition of Crab Orchard was working on removing the last apartment basement on West Hunter Circle on Monday. The basement walls are a foot thick, and Keith Brady of Brady Excavating and Demolition was using a trackhoe with a hammer attached to it to remove the concrete bunker-like walls.

The buildings themselves have already been torn down, and the debris has been hauled away.

Brady, who owns Brady Excavating and Demolition, said the next step will be grading. The site has to be leveled so that it can be mowed, won’t have holes, and will have “positive drainage.” Grading could take two to three days and could be done by next week, Brady said. Big trees on the perimeter and in the middle of the property will remain.

The property will then have to be seeded, and straw will be spread, Brady said. He said that could require about 200 to 250 bales of straw and about a week.

Advertisement

Demolition work started in late January. It followed years of court cases and codes enforcement battles between the City of Oak Ridge and the property owner, Knoxville attorney Joe Levitt. At least some of the buildings had previously been declared unfit for human occupation and use.

It’s not clear what effect the building demolitions might have on any pending legal battles between the city and Levitt. Oak Ridge Today last reported on the legal cases in July 2017, after a court case that once called for a $400,000 fine against Levitt was dismissed. In January, Oak Ridge Today reported that there were, at last check, still legal cases pending in Anderson County Chancery Court in Clinton. There were oral arguments in the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville in February in a case between Levitt and the city. And before that, the two sides had oral arguments in 2014 at the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

In hearings and interviews, Levitt and his employees have said they had worked to maintain the decades-old two-story buildings, which were often referred to as “eyesores,” and to make repairs. Levitt has accused the city of trying to drive poor people out of Oak Ridge. Some tenants had defended the apartments, saying rent was cheaper there than anywhere else, as low as a few hundred dollars per month. But the city has said they were simply trying to enforce existing building and property codes at Applewood Apartments, and the property needed to be repaired and maintained.

The last Applewood Apartments tenant moved out in October 2016. At that time, Levitt said he was 85 and had health problems, and he was trying to clean up his estate. Most of his estate will probably go to the University of Tennessee and nonprofit organizations, Levitt said then. It wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday if that is still the plan, if UT wants the property, and if so, what it might do with it. As of Tuesday afternoon, the properties appeared to be still owned by Levitt, according to a quick review of state real estate assessment records available online.

Applewood Apartments are in the Highland View neighborhood, just north of Oak Ridge Turnpike in central Oak Ridge. There were six Applewood Apartments buildings inside the semi-circular Hunter Circle, four outside the semi-circle, and three more near the intersection of Hillside Road and Highland Avenue.

The current code violations disputes between Levitt and the city had been ongoing since about 2009. Levitt often represented himself in court hearings and before the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals.

See previous Applewood Apartments stories here. You can see what parts of the Applewood Apartments property looked like before building demolition in this earlier story.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking southeast from West Hunter Circle over an area where there used to be six buildings inside the semi-circular Hunter Circle on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking southeast from West Hunter Circle on Monday, July 9, 2018, over an area where there used to be six buildings inside the semi-circular Hunter Circle. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. A Brady Excavating and Demolition crew removes the last basement on West Hunter Circle on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. A Brady Excavating and Demolition crew removes the last basement on West Hunter Circle on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. A Brady Excavating and Demolition crew removes the last basement on West Hunter Circle on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. A Brady Excavating and Demolition crew removes the last basement on West Hunter Circle on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Advertisement



After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking east from West Hunter Circle over the site of several former buildings on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking east from West Hunter Circle over the site of several former buildings on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking south-southeast from West Hunter Circle over the site of several former buildings on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking south-southeast from West Hunter Circle over the site of several former buildings on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building at Hillside Road and East Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building at Hillside Road and East Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Advertisement



After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building at Hillside Road and West Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018, looking south down West Hutchinson Circle. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building at Hillside Road and West Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018, looking south down West Hutchinson Circle. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building on the north side of Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. The site of one former building on the north side of Hunter Circle is pictured above on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking east from Highland Avenue over the site of three former buildings at Hillside Road on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a years-long dispute over alleged code violations, the 13 Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle have been demolished. This picture was taken looking east from Highland Avenue over the site of three former buildings at Hillside Road on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers.


Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

Copyright 2018 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: Business, Business, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Slider Tagged With: Anderson County Chancery Court, Applewood Apartments, Brady Excavating and Demolition, building demolitions, City of Oak Ridge, code violations, demolition, Hillside Road, Hunter Circle, Joe Levitt, Keith Brady, Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, Tennessee Court of Appeals

Advertisements



Join the club!

If you haven't already, please consider subscribing to Oak Ridge Today. You don't have to subscribe to read most of our stories, but your subscription does provide benefits, including access to premium content. And it will help us cover local news for you day and night, as best we can. You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month. You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers:

Basic
  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro
  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and join a private story discussion page
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and join a private story discussion page

Temporary
  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

More Business News

UCOR closed Tuesday due to weather

UCOR closed Tuesday due to weather

UCOR, the federal government's cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, will be closed Tuesday because of the weather. "Only essential personnel should report," UCOR said in a post published on Twitter. The closure applies … [Read More...]

Council members suggest next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge

Council members suggest next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge

  Oak Ridge City Council members on Tuesday suggested next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge. The discussion occurred about a week after Council rejected a revised plan for the second phase of the project in a 4-3 … [Read More...]

Dog Moon Books has grand opening on Saturday

Dog Moon Books has grand opening on Saturday

  Dog Moon Books has a grand opening celebration in Oliver Springs on Saturday. The grand opening is scheduled from noon until 8 p.m. Saturday, January 26. It will include a door prize, book drawings, and … [Read More...]

Shutdown: ORNL FCU offers furlough loans to members who are federal employees

Shutdown: ORNL FCU offers furlough loans to members who are federal employees

ORNL Federal Credit Union has created a loan program to help members who are federal employees and not receiving a paycheck due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. The Furlough Assistance Loan Program … [Read More...]

Council to discuss next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge on Tuesday

Council to discuss next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge on Tuesday

  After they rejected a revised plan for the project on Monday, the Oak Ridge City Council will discuss next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge on Tuesday. It wasn't clear this week what might happen next. The … [Read More...]

More Business

More Government News

Council, DOE to discuss proposed amendment to historical interpretation agreement

Council, DOE to discuss proposed amendment to historical interpretation agreement

The Oak Ridge City Council and U.S. Department of Energy will discuss a proposed amendment to a historical interpretation agreement on Tuesday evening. The agenda for the non-voting Council work session does not give … [Read More...]

One lane of SR 116 open, with temporary signal, for 4-5 weeks

One lane of SR 116 open, with temporary signal, for 4-5 weeks

  One lane will be open on State Route 116 in mountainous north Anderson County, with a temporary traffic signal, for the next four to five weeks, a state official said Thursday. The road, which is also known … [Read More...]

TVA board unanimously approves closing Bull Run Fossil Plant

TVA board unanimously approves closing Bull Run Fossil Plant

  The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors unanimously agreed Thursday morning to close the Bull Run Fossil Plant, a coal-burning power plant in Claxton. The single-generator plant is across the … [Read More...]

(For members) NRC finds no significant impact from producing tritium at Watts Bar 2

(For members) NRC finds no significant impact from producing tritium at Watts Bar 2

  The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on Monday that there would be no significant impact from producing tritium for nuclear weapons in a second unit at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant in Rhea … [Read More...]

Roane Commission rejects school consolidation plan

Roane Commission rejects school consolidation plan

Information from WYSH Radio Monday night, the Roane County Commission overwhelmingly voted against the long-discussed school consolidation project. Commissioners voted 11-2 with two abstentions to reject the … [Read More...]

More Government

Recent Posts

  • Council, DOE to discuss proposed amendment to historical interpretation agreement
  • Oak Ridge police chief to discuss crime, traffic safety
  • Sponsored: Ulster Project to celebrate peace-building with Mardi Gras event
  • Hearne joins ORNL as director of the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
  • Virtual career fair for ORNL on Feb. 20
  • Interfaith Harmony events on Friday, Saturday
  • One lane of SR 116 open, with temporary signal, for 4-5 weeks
  • No injuries reported when car crashes into school bus
  • TVA board unanimously approves closing Bull Run Fossil Plant
  • Man died after removing wife from fire, trying to rescue her special needs sister

Recent Comments

  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Mark Caldwell on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Mark Caldwell on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Tracy Powers on Planning Commission to consider Main Street apartments, plan revisions
  • johnhuotari on Four incumbents re-elected to Oak Ridge City Council
  • Levi D. Smith on Four incumbents re-elected to Oak Ridge City Council
  • samuel hopwood on Housing: Apartments proposed on former AMSE site
  • Matt Bailey on Robin Smith named Oak Ridge police chief

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2019 Oak Ridge Today