Registration is available for a small business webinar series and training events. The webinar series starts July 7, and it focuses on what the health care law means for your small business.
See the announcement from the Tennessee Small Business Development Center below. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Center, which could be redeveloped as a multi-use town center known as Main Street, is pictured above. Also known as the former Oak Ridge Mall, the L-shaped building is at center. The white building at center left is Walmart, and it is not part of the proposed redevelopment. Neither is the white building at center top, the Tinseltown Theater. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The closing on the sale of the former Oak Ridge Mall is proceeding, and it is still on track to close by the end of June, a city consultant said Friday.
“Everything we’re hearing is that they are still on track to close by the end of the month,” said Ray Evans, retail consultant for the City of Oak Ridge.
Evans said officials have been in contact with the RealtyLink, the mall redeveloper, this week, and RealtyLink and the city staff have been discussing construction sequencing.
“We’ve had multiple meetings on that this week,” Evans said. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce building is pictured above.
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s Advocacy Committee will host a series of candidate forums during the election season this year, and the first forum, for three Anderson County Commission candidates, will be in July.
That first forum will be for candidates running in the special election for Anderson County Commission District 8. The forum will be held from 7:30-9 a.m. Thursday, July 14, in the Joyce Conference Room at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, which is at 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
All three candidates for the office—Myra Mansfield, Angeleque McNutt, and Phil Yager—have indicated that they will be present for the forum, a press release said. All candidate forums are free and open to the public. [Read more…]
Officials in Rocky Top and Anderson County will have a ribbon-cutting on Friday, July 1, to celebrate recent legislation that allows all-terrain vehicles to ride on Highway 25W starting this summer.
The celebration will include officials from the City of Rocky Top, Rocky Top Chamber of Commerce, and Anderson County Tourism Council. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday, July 1, at the “Welcome to Rocky Top City” sign located between the southbound exit ramp of Exit 129 off of Interstate 75 and the Colonial Road in front of KFC and Cracker Barrel.
The Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation to amend current law that would allow for all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, to ride on Highway 25W in Rocky Top from the intersection of Colonial Lane to the intersection at Jacksboro Avenue beginning July 1, a press release said.
“Current legislation allows for ATVs to be operated on State Route 116 from Beech Grove to Highway 25,” said Mike Lovely, Rocky Top mayor. “This amendment extends the riding area and allows riders from Windrock Park to access the commerce area of Rocky Top.” [Read more…]
Jeff Shiver
Roane State Community College will host industry recognized book author and speaker Jeff Shiver at the “Achieving the Maintenance” Best Practices Seminar in Clinton.
Shiver will focus on the five primary goals that most organizations are seeking from the maintenance function: reliability, lower costs, safety, environmental integrity, and quality, a press release said. He will provide an overview of tools and concepts that you can apply in your organization. These include RCM3, risk-based strategies, planning and scheduling, proactive tasks, how equipment fails, and defect elimination.
Shiver—a CMRP, CRL, RCM2/RCM3 practitioner—will highlight a morning session with the “big picture” from a reliability-centered maintenance perspective, the press release said. [Read more…]
The Lavender Festival in Jackson Square on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The festival included artisan vendors in the square and on Broadway. (Photo by Julio Culiat)
The 18th annual Lavender Festival on Saturday celebrated herbs, crafts, food, and music. Here are photos by Julio Culiat.
The festival celebrated the Herb of the Year, Capsicum, or hot peppers. New this year, “A Taste of Tennessee Wines” brought wine tasting to the festival. The tasting was hosted by Great Valley Wine Trail, which is made up of five independent wineries in East Tennessee.
The Lavender Festival also featured more than 100 artisan vendors, several informative presentations, children’s activities, and live musicians. Vendors lined the covered walkways of Jackson Square, the parking lot, and both sides of Broadway Avenue, which was closed to traffic.
The Oak Ridge Farmers Market was open as usual across from the square from 8 a.m.-noon Saturday.
The Lavender Festival in Jackson Square on Saturday, June 18, 2016. Above, children stay cool playing in the interactive fountain in the center of Jackson Square. (Photo by Julio Culiat)
Barbara Ferrell, center, received a Muddy Boot Award in a surprise ceremony on Friday, June 17, 2016, in conjunction with the Lavender Festival in Jackson Square in Oak Ridge. Also pictured are Dave McCoy, left, and David Bradshaw. (Submitted photo)
Barbara Ferrell, who owns The Ferrell Shop in Jackson Square, received the Muddy Boot Award on Friday.
The award is given by the East Tennessee Economic Council. It is a tribute to people who, through their work and community activities, make East Tennessee a stronger region.
The mid-year Muddy Boot Award was given to Ferrell in a surprise ceremony on Friday in conjunction with the annual Lavender Festival in Jackson Square.
Ferrell has been a leading independent retailer in Oak Ridge for more than 25 years, a press release said. She has been the driving force behind the successful Lavender Festival, which celebrates its 18th year this year. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Small Business Development Center is offering workshops in June, July, and August.
Here is a schedule of workshops:
This workshop discusses all steps in starting up a new business, to include legal forms of business and financing options.
There is no fee to attend, but registration is required. To sign up, call TSBDC at (865) 483-2668 or email jbangs@tsbdc.org.
The new Calhoun’s Restaurant in Oak Ridge could open on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, although plans are subject to change. Above, the restaurant was under construction in mid-April at the former site of Riverside Grille on Melton Lake Peninsula in east Oak Ridge. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Plans could change, but for now, the new Calhoun’s Restaurant in Oak Ridge plans to open Wednesday, the company said Thursday.
The restaurant will be on Melton Lake Peninsula in east Oak Ridge, where Riverside Grille and Flatwater Grill used to be.
Oak Ridge Today first reported on the new restaurant in March, after Calhoun’s applied for a beer permit from the Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board.
The restaurant is owned by the Copper Cellar Corporation, which purchased the property from businessmen and developers Rick and Ryan Chinn in February. [Read more…]
Construction work was scheduled to start this month on the new Hobby Lobby store at the former Kroger on South Illinois Avenue, and workers are pictured above at the site of the new Hobby Lobby store on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Construction work was scheduled to start at the beginning of this month at the new Hobby Lobby store in Oak Ridge, and workers have been seen at the site in the past few weeks. Construction fencing was up around the new store, which will be at the former Kroger on South Illinois Avenue, as early as May 28.
On Friday, Bob Miller, Hobby Lobby communications coordinator, said plans show a store of 62,800 square feet. Miller said he does not have a projected opening date at this time.
The new store was announced in April.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Construction work was scheduled to start this month on the new Hobby Lobby store at the former Kroger on South Illinois Avenue, and workers are pictured above at the site of the new Hobby Lobby store on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Photography by Shawn Millsaps
Hot peppers, thyroid health, city chickens, and cooking with Tennessee wine are the topics of special presentations at the 18th annual Lavender Festival on Saturday, June 18, in Historic Jackson Square in Oak Ridge. Lavender Festival is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, with more than 100 artisan vendors. Festival admission and special presentations are free, except where noted, a press release said.
Location: In the white building in the southeast corner of the square near the stairs [Read more…]
The American Museum of Science and Energy property is pictured above in central Oak Ridge. The wide road running vertically at center-right through the aerial photo is South Tulane Avenue. The proposed Main Street Oak Ridge would be on the right side of South Tulane Avenue at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The road running horizontally at bottom is South Illinois Avenue. AMSE is the brown-roofed building at top-center.
Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m. June 16.
The Oak Ridge City Council agreed Monday to allow the city manager to negotiate with federal officials and the company redeveloping the former Oak Ridge Mall for the transfer of the American Museum of Science and Energy property—if the federal government wants to get rid of it.
And it appears that the federal government does want to dispose of the museum. The U.S. Department of Energy has asked the federal General Services Administration, which disposes of federal property, for help with that process, said Claire Sinclair of Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office Public Affairs. GSA took on that role last week.
But the transfer of federal property such as AMSE usually takes a few years, Sinclair said, and if a new use were proposed for the museum property, adequate public notice would be given. ORNL manages AMSE for DOE.
In the meantime, AMSE is expected to continue operating, officials said.
Under the resolution approved by Council on Monday, the 17.12 acres of federal property at the AMSE site could be transferred to the city. Or RealtyLink, the company redeveloping the mall, could negotiate directly with federal officials. The U.S. Department of Energy owns the museum, and it would work on any proposed transfer through the General Services Administration. [Read more…]
