A ribbon-cutting has been scheduled at the renovated K-25 Visitors Center and Overlook in west Oak Ridge on Thursday, April 25.
The ceremony has been scheduled from 4-6 p.m. April 25. The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
“This project has been a labor of love between Bionomics and Roane County Visitors Bureau/The Roane Alliance, and we are excited for you to see all the changes that have already taken place,” a press release said. [Read more…]
Pictured above is a rendering of the proposed Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals Corporation medical isotope production facility at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy Coquí)
Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m.
Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced Wednesday that it could invest $500 million at a new medical isotope production facility at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge.
The facility could start production in late 2025, said Carmen Bigles, founder and chief executive officer of Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. Department of Energy has transferred land for the facility and provided research support through the national laboratories, the company said in a press release Wednesday morning.
Coquí’s facility will produce medical isotopes that diagnose and treat diseases, primarily molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which is used in 18 million medical procedures a year in the U.S., the press release said.
The facility will provide more than 200 high-paying, permanent jobs, Coquí said. [Read more…]
A May 2018 draft of the airport layout drawing for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport at East Tennessee Technology Park along State Route 58 in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority/Michael Baker International)
A layout plan has been submitted for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, and now officials are waiting for a response from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The response could arrive any day, according Bill Barley, vice president of CHA Consulting, which has an office in Louisville. Barley and Mike Reiter of Michael Baker International, an architectural firm, gave an update about the Oak Ridge Airport project during a meeting of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners at McGhee Tyson Aiport in Alcoa on Wednesday.
The letter from the FAA could be a conditional approval, which is standard, Barley said.
If approved and funded, the airport would have a 5,000-foot runway, and it would be built on the south side of the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. It would be near Highway 58, on 170 acres of land that have been declared excess by the U.S. Department of Energy. The runway could run roughly parallel to the highway.
Here are a few images from the draft airport master plan in May for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, courtesy of Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority and Michael Baker International. [Read more…]
The Visitor’s Overlook, part of the Happy Valley property purchased in November 2016, is pictured above across from East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
K-25 Overlook will be ‘bigger and better,’ provide Manhattan Project and recreational information
The K-25 Overlook next to State Route 58 in west Oak Ridge will soon be re-opening as a much larger and nicer visitor center that will also have a new purpose, a press release said.
Owner John McCormick, vice president of Bionomics, purchased the 160-acre property known as Happy Valley through an auction at the end of 2016. The overlook on SR 58 across from the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, was part of the purchase.
But the overlook needed building repairs and updates to the historical information inside, the press release said. In 2017, McCormick partnered with Pam May, vice president of the Roane Alliance, who reached out to local historians, the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, and Explore Oak Ridge to discuss the future of the overlook.
“The idea to expand the overlook into a visitor center and recreational hub came from the National Park Service in one of the early meetings,” May said. “That aligned perfectly with what John had envisioned—to create trails and open spaces that people could enjoy while also learning Happy Valley’s history through its landmarks still evident on the property.” [Read more…]
Pat Postma, left, presents the Postma Young Professional Medal to Wade Creswell, chief executive officer of Roane Alliance, during an East Tennessee Economic Council meeting on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. (DOE photo courtesy Lynn Freeny)
Note: This story was updated at 2:25 p.m.
Wade Creswell, president and chief executive officer of Roane Alliance, is leaving his position to begin work with an area business. His last day at the Alliance will be September 21.
The departure was announced Wednesday by Chris Whaley, chair of the Roane Alliance Board of Directors.
Pam May, Roane Alliance vice president, will serve as interim president and CEO until the board decides on the long-term future of the position, a press release said.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the great work that Wade has done in his four and a half years leading the Roane Alliance,” Whaley said in a statement sent to the Board of Directors for the Roane Alliance, Chamber of Commerce, and Industrial Development Board. “His passion, vision, and love for Roane County have fueled his tireless work for this county and region, and I sincerely appreciate all he has done.” [Read more…]
Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
A presentation that will provide information about the status of the Oak Ridge General Aviation Airport project has been scheduled for Tuesday evening.
The presentation is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 16, in the Robertsville Middle School Library. It’s part of a joint work session between the Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education that will begin at 6 p.m.
The airport presentation will be given by Billy Stair, aviation consultant, and Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. In December, Stair gave a presentation about the airport to Roane County officials.
After that meeting, Oak Ridge Today reported that Tennessee officials have appropriated $15 million that could be used for the proposed airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. The appropriation, which is pending approval of the Oak Ridge Airport by the Federal Aviation Administration, would be enough to cover about 33 percent to 38 percent of the current estimated project cost of $40 million to $45 million. [Read more…]
An early aerial photo of Happy Valley, a construction camp that was like a small city and used to help build the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. This picture was taken May, 22, 1944, by Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II. (Photo courtesy Ed Westcott/Emily Hunnicutt)
It was once home to a large construction camp that was like a small city and housed workers building K-25 during World War II.
Now the 160-acre parcel known as Happy Valley has been sold.
Happy Valley was in west Oak Ridge, across State Route 58 from the K-25 site. One of three major sites in Oak Ridge, K-25 was built to enrich uranium for atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II.
Today, Happy Valley appears to be mostly a rolling tree-covered landscape between Oak Ridge and Kingston along SR 58. To the public, there is little or no obvious evidence of what was once there—homes, a grocery store, schools, a post office, recreation halls, a gas station, and a bowling alley.
But those who have walked the property have seen evidence of the small city that was once there. [Read more…]
Steve Kelley, left, Pam May and Wade Creswell present a $10,000 check from the Roane Alliance to Pat Postma, second from right, for the new Peace Pavilion to house the International Friendship Bell. (Submitted photo)
The Roane Alliance recently contributed $10,000 to the fund supporting a new Peace Pavilion to house the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge’s Bissell Park.
Wade Creswell, president of the Roane Alliance; Pam May, Roane Alliance vice president; and Roane County Commissioner Steve Kelley presented the contribution to Pat Postma, co-chair of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee.
Kelley, who represents Roane County Commission District 4 in Oak Ridge, said county officials consider this a tourism contribution that will bring economic benefit to the county.
“The Tourism Committee of Roane County Commission had been looking for ways to help the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park become an economic engine for Roane County,” said Kelley, who chairs the committee. “I suggested a donation through the Roane Alliance to the bell project, to support the Bell and Peace Pavilion as an attraction for national park visitors. We believe it will help increase traffic to the national park and surrounding attractions.” [Read more…]
Greg LeMond, center, three-time Tour de France champion, celebrated the opening of LeMond Composites, a new company he co-founded, during a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 12, 2016, at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. The company is expected to make composite bicycles and carbon fiber, and invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs. Behind LeMond is Nicolas Wegener, LeMond Composites chief operating officer. At left is Thomas Zacharia, ORNL deputy director for science and technology. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A new company co-founded by Greg LeMond, a three-time Tour de France champion, will make composite bicycles and carbon fiber for other products in Oak Ridge, and the business, called LeMond Composites, will invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs, officials said during a Wednesday afternoon ceremony. Here are photos from the ceremony. [Read more…]
Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France champion, celebrated the opening of LeMond Composites, a new company he co-founded, during a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 12, 2016, at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. The company is expected to make composite bicycles and carbon fiber, and invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A new company co-founded by Greg LeMond, a three-time Tour de France champion, will make composite bicycles and carbon fiber for other products in Oak Ridge, and the business, called LeMond Composites, will invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs, officials said during a Wednesday afternoon ceremony.
Among the officials celebrating the opening on Wednesday were LeMond, and Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd.
Carbon fiber has advantageous properties, but cost has been a barrier to using it, said Connie Jackson, chief executive officer of LeMond Composites. She said the manufacturing process has been changed to reduce production cost.
“We have overcome a significant part of the cost barrier,” Jackson said.
Carbon fiber is light, stiff, and strong, making it the perfect material for advanced composites in a variety of applications. It can be used to improve efficiency, save energy, and build or repair vehicles and planes, wind turbines and containers, and bridges and tunnels. [Read more…]
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…]
CVMR President Michael Hargett, left, and Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer, joined local, state, and federal officials on Friday, March 13, 2015, to announce they’re moving company headquarters from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.
Note: This story was last updated at 7:05 p.m.
Seeking to clarify its plans, CVMR on Friday said it still hopes to build a metal refining facility in Oak Ridge to produce metal powders and “nano materials.” That investment, to be completed in three phases, could cost more than $300 million in the first phase and eventually employ 1,200 to 1,500 engineers and technicians, the company said Friday.
But they will not establish a Center of Excellence focused on research and development of the application of vapor metallurgy technology to an expanding group of elements, CVMR said in a Friday letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.
The company sought to publicly clarify its position after news stories this week suggested that the CVMR deal was dead. Some officials and developers had pushed back after those stories appeared in several Knoxville media outlets, saying they remained “cautiously optimistic” that the company could still come to Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
