Business Archives - Page 95 of 145

ORNL FCU starts major facilities projects; demolition under way

Posted at 10:52 am September 29, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Chris Johnson and Marcy Catro at ORNL Federal Credit Union

ORNL FCU President and CEO Chris Johnson and Board Chair Marcy Catron are pictured above. (Submitted photo)

ORNL Federal Credit Union on Monday announced that it has started its major facilities projects in Oak Ridge with the demolition of its location at 215 South Rutgers Avenue. That location was the Credit Union’s sole branch between 1969 and 1987, before housing the Operations and Imaging departments for the last 27 years.

Business operations at ORNL FCU’s main branch located at 221 South Rutgers Avenue will not be affected by the ongoing work. [Read more…]

IDB, Council to consider longer tax agreement, road improvements for mall project

Posted at 2:51 am September 29, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Main Street Oak Ridge Site Plan without Tenants

A Main Street Oak Ridge site plan from Tuesday, without tenants shown. (Submitted image)

In two special meetings today, local officials will consider adding another 10 years to a tax incentive agreement for the long-awaited redevelopment of the Oak Ridge mall, and they will also consider authorizing improvements to public infrastructure, including the rebuilding of three private roads: Main Street East, Main Street West, and Wilson Street.

The tax incentive is known as tax increment financing, or TIF. It would use new property tax revenues generated at the mall site, which will be renamed Main Street Oak Ridge, to help pay for development costs.

A 20-year, $13 million TIF and economic impact plan were approved by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, City Council, and Anderson County Commission in November, and by Tennessee officials in January.

But the IDB and City Council will now consider extending the TIF term to 30 years. The extension would also have to be approved by the Anderson County Commission and Tennessee officials. [Read more…]

Cadre5 wins Small Business Subcontractor of Year award

Posted at 1:37 am September 29, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

SBA Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award

Pictured above from left are Chris O’Neal (Cadre5), Gina Holman, Steve Hicks, Walter Perry, and Ken Lowery (Cadre5). (Submitted photo)

KNOXVILLE—Cadre5, a software engineering firm specializing in custom software development, was recently presented with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2014 Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award for Region 4, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Cadre5 was nominated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where it has worked on more than 20 projects that met or exceeded its cost and schedule performance goals.

Tennessee District Director Walter Perry and Procurement Center Representative Gina Holman of the Area III Office of Government Contracting, on behalf of Carol Thompson, Area III director, presented Cadre5 with the award at the East Tennessee Economic Council board meeting this month.

“Cadre5 is an outstanding example of how this Tennessee small business community can meet national laboratory mission needs and those of private industry,” Thompson said. “It speaks well of their strong performance in government contracting opportunities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which has enabled growth in their business and creation of jobs in Tennessee.” [Read more…]

Chamber has two candidate forums this week

Posted at 6:51 pm September 28, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce is pictured above.

The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce has two Election Selection candidate forums this week.

The first is Tuesday morning, September 30, and it will feature the 10 candidates for Oak Ridge City Council. The second is Thursday morning, October 2, and it will feature the eight candidates for Oak Ridge Board of Education.

The forums have been organized by the Chamber’s Pro-Growth Advocacy Committee. They are open to the public.

Doors to both forums open at 7 a.m. There will be 30 minutes of meet-and-greet time among the candidates, Chamber members, supporters, community members, and attendees, a press release said. [Read more…]

UT report: State economy looking more robust as year end approaches

Posted at 10:17 am September 25, 2014
By University of Tennessee 1 Comment

Matt Murray

KNOXVILLE—More jobs. An unemployment rate that’s trending down. Increasing personal income.

Thanks to these gains, there is a positive ring to this fall’s Tennessee Business and Economic Outlook report prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“Tennessee’s economic outlook is very similar to the national outlook, with moderate to strong growth expected for the second half of the year and a continuation of growth through 2015,” said Matt Murray, associate director of CBER, who directed the report.

Job growth [Read more…]

IDB has special meeting on Oak Ridge mall on Monday

Posted at 11:37 am September 24, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

A city board on Monday will consider extending the tax agreement for the redevelopment of the Oak Ridge mall from 20 years to 30.

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board will consider the change to the tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement during a special meeting Monday afternoon.

It’s one of a series of resolutions expected to be considered by the IDB and Oak Ridge City Council during special-called meetings on Monday, September 29. [Read more…]

Guest column: Oak Ridge—moving ahead!

Posted at 11:04 am September 24, 2014
By Mark S. Watson Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

In December of 2013, the City of Oak Ridge was given a Christmas present: a strong, viable prospective property owner that would help reclaim the center of our precious city. Crosland Southeast, well-respected developers from North Carolina, came to our city and said they could help us redevelop the crumbling mall within our city. This mall, newly named Main Street Oak Ridge, had come to symbolize the ultimate development challenge for our city.

Now, 10 months later, the time has come for the details of our work to begin to come out in the open. This project has taken several courses. First, the City of Oak Ridge and Anderson County said that they would support the development of this project with what is known as a tax increment district, or TIF. The governments would continue to receive their marginal values in property taxes, but the “new” value created by the private investment in Main Street Oak Ridge would be used to pay for public improvements on the project such as new traffic configurations, road improvements, and building demolition. In return, the private developer would borrow money at his own risk and develop major new retail shopping, with a potential hotel and residential development on the 65-acre site.

This effort has been successful, and major retail tenants have been lined up for filling a targeted 260,000 square feet of new facilities. Our Belk store will receive a facelift, and JCPenney will continue to perform. At present, stores are in the initial inquiry stages of building and will be moving to make announcements by the first of the year or shortly thereafter. I would love to tell you the names of the stores (which I have seen), but we need to honor the wishes of the companies as they make their expansion announcements. I believe the Oak Ridge community will be pleased! [Read more…]

Oak Ridge mall to have new name, banks considering financing

Posted at 5:06 pm September 23, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 1 Comment

Tim Sittema

The redeveloped Oak Ridge mall will have a new name, and local banks and credit unions are considering helping with project financing, executives said Tuesday.

The redeveloped mixed-use property will be known as Main Street—Oak Ridge, said Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina development firm that has been working with the city of Oak Ridge to redevelop the site, including through significant demolition and new construction. The name was chosen after long consideration of a new brand identity for the development, including involvement by Oak Ridge High School students.

“Most everyone we talked to in Oak Ridge was positive about creating a downtown destination for the community—something that says this place is the heart of the city,” said Crosland Southeast partner Tim Sittema. “The site already has Main Street running through it; so Main Street—Oak Ridge is the obvious choice.”

David Bradshaw

Construction is expected to begin in early 2015, with an opening anticipated in the third quarter of 2016, based upon completion of the financial arrangements.

In a press release, Crosland Southeast said a consortium of local financial institutions, led by CapitalMark Bank and Trust of Oak Ridge, is considering substantial involvement in the financing of the redevelopment “due to the transformative nature of this project in the city core.”

“In addition to our bank, ORNL Federal Credit Union and others have held discussions together about providing lending support to the mall project,” said David Bradshaw, executive vice president of CapitalMark. “Although details have not been finalized and commitments have not yet been made, there is very strong interest among our local banks and credit unions to be engaged in this important long-term investment in the Oak Ridge community.” [Read more…]

Children’s Museum offers Day of Play

Posted at 1:44 pm September 23, 2014
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

Kids Go Green! Environmental Center and Gardens

Photo courtesy Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will join in Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play with children’s activities throughout the afternoon Wednesday, September 24. Children may join in the following activities:

Scavenger Hunts in the Kids Go Green! Environmental Center & Garden, 3-3:30 p.m., for ages 6-10.
Pumpkin Relay, 3-3:15 p.m. for ages 3-5, and 4-4:15 p.m. for ages 5-8.
Parachute Game, 3:30-3:50 p.m. for ages 3-5, and 4:20-4:40 p.m. for ages 5-8.

While visiting exhibits, children may count the scarecrows and report back to the front desk how many they found. [Read more…]

Chamber forms Progress PAC, two Council members seek legal action

Posted at 12:55 am September 23, 2014
By John Huotari 11 Comments

Trina Baughn

Note: This story was updated at 10:30 a.m.

Two Oak Ridge City Council members have requested a special meeting this week to consider litigation against the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, seeking to prevent the business organization from conducting political activities on public property, including through a new political action committee.

The special meeting, which would be open to the public, has been requested by Oak Ridge City Council members Trina Baughn and Anne Garcia Garland. Baughn said she requested the meeting to “vote upon initiating litigation against the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce so that the city may seek either injunctive relief and/or a temporary restraining order with regards to their conducting political activities on public property.”

Stephen Whitson

On Friday, the Chamber announced it had formed a political action committee named the Progress PAC. The multi-candidate PAC will support candidates in the November elections for Oak Ridge Board of Education and City Council, a press release said.

Stephen Whitson of Oak Ridge has been elected Progress PAC chair, and David Bradshaw, also of Oak Ridge, has been named treasurer. Both are past chairs of the Chamber’s Board of Directors.

In the press release, Whitson said the Progress PAC will only consider supporting candidates who respond to an issue-based written questionnaire and participate in an interview with Progress PAC members. [Read more…]

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