Council approves plan for apartments at former AMSE site

Posted at 12:16 pm January 18, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will consider a rezoning and planned unit development on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018, that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved a rezoning and planned unit development on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a plan that would allow apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site on South Tulane Avenue.

The apartment proposal requires a rezoning and the approval of a plan for a planned unit development, or PUD.

They were approved in a 5-1-1 vote in the first of two readings on Monday. The second and final reading will presumably be in February.

Voting for the plan were Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch and City Council members Kelly Callison, Jim Dodson, Derrick Hammond, and Ellen Smith.

Voting against it was Council member Chuck Hope.

Council member Rick Chinn abstained.

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission unanimously approved the rezoning and master plan in December. That functioned as a recommendation to the Oak Ridge City Council.

The apartment complex could include 217 units in seven three-story buildings on the northern side of the former AMSE site. They would be built on about 10 acres where the former museum building and its big parking lot are now, just south of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.

AMSE has moved across the street to Main Street Oak Ridge, the roughly 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.

The rezoning and planned unit development have been requested by TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC and Mainstreet Capital Partners LLC. A total of roughly 11 acres are included in the rezoning, including about 10 acres for the PUD. Some variances have been requested, including for front setbacks and parking spaces per unit.

The 217 units and apartment amenities would be built on about eight acres. A second phase of the PUD could include either residential or mixed uses with residential, retail, and office.

The name of the complex hasn’t been determined yet. The site could include one- and two-bedroom units and three to six three-bedroom units.

Construction of the apartment complex could start mid-year in 2019, and construction could take 20 to 24 months.

Part of the southern portion of the 17.47-acre AMSE site has already been rezoned (in December 2017) and developed, and a Tire Discounters store has been built there.

The AMSE property was once owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, but it was transferred to the City of Oak Ridge and is being transferred to a private developer as part of an agreement signed in December 2016 and related to the relocation of AMSE and the Main Street Oak Ridge development.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

See the Monday night City Council agenda here.

See previous story here.

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