Members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church voted 131-2 to try to buy this 4.6-acre site in front of the Joe L. Evins Federal Building for a new church. (Photo courtesy of Jake B. Morrill)
They’ve agreed to sell their current church to make way for a new shopping center, and on Sunday, members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church voted overwhelmingly to try to move to the east end of town.
The congregation voted 131-2 to buy a 4.6-acre site in front of the Joe L. Evins Federal Building, home of the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office. The plot is beside Summit Medical on Laboratory Road.
But they haven’t closed on the deal yet, the church’s minister, Rev. Jake B. Morrill, said Monday morning. In a press release Monday afternoon, members of the Church’s Relocation Steering Committee said the due diligence process is not complete, and a closing date hasn’t been set.
Assuming the deal is completed, the next step would be to design a building. The church said it is working with an architect “to begin a congregation-wide process to design a new church using a sustainable, green design for the new facility and preservation of as much of the existing park-like setting of the parcel as possible.â€
Church members expect to be in their new home by Thanksgiving 2014.
Congregation members voted overwhelmingly in September to sell their current building and 3.6 acres to make way for a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center that could open in 2014. They said at the time that they would have two years to move.
Spokeswoman Jo Ann Garrett said then the church could close on the sale between November and April. The church declined to disclose a sales price for the heavily used property, a serene, wooded tract in the heart of Oak Ridge.
The current property could be used as outparcels, or small lots, at the new $30 million shopping center. Located on two dozen acres at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, the new shopping center would stretch east to Robertsville Road, where the church is now located.
ORUUC has been located on the corner of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Robertsville Road since 1956.
“Throughout this process, I have been most proud of two things,†said Morrill, ORUUC minister since 2003. “The first is our congregation’s ability to move through a democratic process in a healthy, loving way.  The second is to hear, over and over, a desire to use this opportunity to minister to the wider community of Oak Ridge even more in the future than we have over the last 61 years. This is a congregation with a heart for service.â€
Jason Allison says
More good, positive news for Oak Ridge. I’m glad some of the empty lots are being scooped up.
John Huotari says
I think this one’s been vacant for quite a while. Seems like I heard it was once used for soccer fields.
Jason Allison says
You are correct. It was were AYSO used to play/practice. Another plus is there is already a pull off lane. I think AYSO used it up until the current clinic on the corner was built.
John Huotari says
Thanks for confirming
Andrew Howe says
What? You WANT more sprawl along the turnpike? I LOVE that open space between the turnpike and the fed bldg. I do NOT want more big bldgs along the turnpike.
When the Calhoun Blanchard Kroger project was still an uncertainty, people kept screaming “why don’t they just use one of the existing spaces, like the old Food Lion by Lincoln’s, etc”.
Well, I’m now going to ask the church why THEY don’t do that.
Can we in Oak Ridge, please, please, please, stop turning our own town into one huge strip of buildings and concrete by tearing out the green?!
I tried to talk the church into staying where they were because I didn’t like seeing the houses replaced with another strip mall. Well now the church is going to replace a lovely green field with yet another building.
It’s a church people. You only need a big space to meet in. Why not purchase one of the many large vacant properties already around? The old athletic club on Emory comes to mind. Do you really need to build something new and ADD TO THE PROBLEM!!??
What was once a lovely view of the Fed Bldg across a large green expanse of grass will become just another view of a big bldg along the turnpike.
Why don’t we just put a McDonalds on the White House lawn while we’re at it. Who cares about aesthetics anyway, right?
So, to summarize, thanks to Calhoun and Blanchard, we’ll have a vacant Krogers, a new shopping plaza we really don’t need, no more lovely old UU church with all this green, and no more lovely view of what should be a protected landmark bldg in town.
Sigh… If you UU folks simply MUST put a bldg there, please make sure you make it as green as possible. Leave the trees and DON’T block the view of the Fed Bldg!
Jason Allison says
I think it’s another case of availability. To make use of property with a building already on it means the church would end up spending more money. While I do agree having natural areas are great, this is a city, there are lots of places around in the country that have plenty of green space. If we fail to progresswe as a city will fail. Oak Ridge has been swiming in it’s own self made problems for too long. It’s timewe quit holding onto the past and embrace the future. There’s plenty of time to reminisce about the past.
Jason Allison says
Okay, please forgive my spelling. If we fail to progress as a city our city will fail. There has been an ongoing complaint about the lack of progress in Oak Ridge. Now, when we are starting to bring new businesses in no one seems happy. Someone on a completely different site coined the phrase “CAVE” citizens against virtually everything. I fell into that category until I opened my eyes and saw we were sitting stagnant and not progressing. We need to gave ourselves a reason not to go to Turkey Creek to shop.
As far as available land goes. We really don’t truthfully have many viable options. You can count on one hand how many open lots there are. As far as the mall goes, thats pretty much untouchable at the moment. Mr. Arnsdorf doesn’t have any incentive to sell that property. He knows he has us by the curlies and is not going to budge. Take Joe Levitt for example. He knows pretty good and well his rundown apartments need to be cleared out. Now the City has spent countless dollars in court and having inspectors out. It finally came to the point where the city said enough.
We ARE going in the right direction for attracting bigger businesses in. We are finally getting some of the restaurants that have never been in Oak Ridge. Now it is impacting our well established eateries but that is the price we are going to have to pay. Give it a couple years and we’ll be back on top if things.
I can’t, and wont, pretend to know everything all I can do is form my opinion as to what is visibly going on. Now we can’t forget the rowers that bring in pretty big bucks or the Windrock groups that do the same. By in large these folks are supporting our city in a pretty good way. There are going to be some speed bumps and hurdles along the way.
As far as putting a McDonalds on the White House lawn, or the protected landmark of the Castle On The Hill or the empty Krogers. That’s really going way far into left field. The church is not going to have any impact to the Castle and they are working on a business to replace the Krogers. I personally have never seen an ugly church. A church should be held to a higher standard than just an old empty racquet club or some steel building. Churches are someplace people go to give respect to their observed higher being.
I have lived here for 37 years. I’ve seen Oak Ridge go from something to nothing and we’re now trying to make it something again. Why should we hang onto the past? We have museums for that. Oak Ridge is now, quickly, becoming not so dependent on the Government (as far as Y12, K25, X10). If we continue to try to hold onto what we had, the world will pass us up. Have you ever asked yourself why the people who live in different towns think so low of us? For one, we have a large group of very smart people who do work at the plants and with that comes, don’t bash me now, a certain arrogance. Second, we have NOTHING, if we keep fighting change we will continue to have nothing.
Everyones entitled to their opinion, thats why we have the social media. I for one don’t think badly of someone that doesn’t agree with me. The only way to move forward is to, at times, have disagreements. The best results come from talking and taking all the good points from everyone and make it a reality.
I would like to thank Mr. Houtari for having this site. You have given a voice back to us that someone else took away and now wants us to pay. I like the fact there seems to be a greater emphasis placed into the details of the story. For quite a while we were left scratching our heads wondering if we really got all the details. Again, THANK YOU MR. HOUTARI.
John Huotari says
You’re welcome, Jason. Thank you for reading and commenting.