Oak Ridge Today





Motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Horizon-Center-Motorsports-Track-6-Feb-11-2020
Part of the site where a test track and research facility or motorsports park was proposed on the back side of Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The proposed motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge, the developer announced Tuesday after learning that an environmental impact statement would be required, and that the study could cost several million dollars and take several years.

Rusty Bittle, developer and founding partner of the Oak Ridge Motorsports Park, said he would try to relocate the proposed project. The name will be changed as well, Bittle said.

“After more than a year of discussions between the City of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, and the U.S. Department of Energy, Bittle decided to relocate the project to another East Tennessee community that offers more attractive options for the project,” a press release said.

“An East Tennessee motorsports park is a legacy project for me,” Bittle said in the press release. “The State of Tennessee has a reputation for automotive excellence, we are leading the way on advanced transportation technologies like electric vehicles, lightweight composites, and artificial intelligence. A motorsports park will help the state and host community build an international reputation for next generation transportation technologies and become a tourism destination for automotive enthusiasts.”

[Read more…]
Advertisements

UT-Battelle Development Corp. contributes $500,000 for proposed airport

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Pictured above is Jeff Smith, president of UT-Battelle Development Corporation and vice chair of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The City of Oak Ridge said it has received a $500,000 contribution from the UT-Battelle Development Corporation to help with the planned airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

The contribution is meant to provide funding that can be used to secure state and/or federal grants that require a local funding match, a city press release said.

Thomas Zacharia, president and chief executive officer of UT-Battelle and director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Jeff Smith, president of UT-Battelle Development Corporation, presented the contribution to Oak Ridge City Council at its March 8 meeting. Smith is also vice chair of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.

“I believe the presence of a new airport will be a key differentiator for this community because it supports existing trends so clearly: The airport will make Oak Ridge more attractive to companies and professionals interested in low-cost, high-quality communities with easy access to other cities,” Zacharia said, according to the press release.

[Read more…]
Advertisement

Which Wich closes

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Which Wich restaurant on Oak Ridge Turnpike closed Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020.

The Which Wich restaurant on Oak Ridge Turnpike closed on Thursday, December 31.

The Which Wich corporate office and Oak Ridge location have not responded to emails asking about the closing this week, and Oak Ridge Today was not able to reach the company and Oak Ridge location by phone on Wednesday and Thursday.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or [email protected]

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

Copyright 2021 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Winter Farmers’ Market returns indoors, with a Market-To-Go curbside option

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Free-range eggs, radishes, and broccoli are just some of the products available all season at the Winter Farmers’ Market. (Photo courtesy Grow Oak Ridge)

The fifth season of the Winter Farmers’ Market begins indoors Saturday, December 5, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and it is focused on safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, a press release said.

The market is open Saturdays through March (closed December 26), at St. Mary’s Catholic School at 323 Vermont Avenue in Oak Ridge.

All vendors and customers must wear masks, and vendors are spread apart for social distancing, the press release said.

New this year is a 100 percent touch-free curbside pickup program called Market-to-Go. Customers can shop farmers’ market products online during the week, and pick them up curbside on Saturday mornings, the press release said.

“We have been working all year to get ready for a safe, indoor market. Not many towns our size offer a Winter Farmers’ Market, much less one with more than 30 vendors and a convenient online store,” said Rebecca Williams, director of Grow Oak Ridge, the nonprofit organization that produces the market.

[Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society has online fall plant sale from Sept. 25-Oct. 10

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Conifers from East Fork Nursery of Sevierville (Submitted photo)

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society’s Annual Plant Sale will be online only this year. It is scheduled from September 25 to October 10. You can shop for new plants from home.

The UT Arboretum Society’s plant sales are some of their biggest fundraisers of the year. They help support the arboretum’s community education, trail improvements such as its Nature Book Trail, and children’s programs, a press release said.

The online plant sale will give you a chance to enhance your garden this fall.

“Fall is always a wonderful time for planting as it gives your plants time to establish great root systems for the spring,” the press release said.

[Read more…]

Nine Lakes Winemaker’s Market is Saturday, precautions in place

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Bottles of Tennessee wine not found in stores will be for sale at the Nine Lakes Winemaker’s Market at Melton Lake Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. (Photo courtesy Nine Lakes Wine Festival)

The fourth annual Nine Lakes Wine Festival has been converted to a safer, spread out, open-air “Winemaker’s Market” on Saturday, September 12, a press release said. The festival is scheduled from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Melton Lake Park in Oak Ridge.

“All of our winemakers will be wearing masks, and we ask that the public does, too,” said event director Rebecca Williams. “They will be spread out in the park, with at least 10 feet between vendor tents, and we may have to limit ticket sales to allow for social distancing.”

The event will not offer wine samples to taste this year.

“The state will not allow it, and we agree it would not be a safe thing to do,” Williams said. “Instead, we’re offering a unique shopping event, sort of like a farmer’s market for wine. Tennessee wines are not generally sold in stores, so you really have to come to an event or drive out to a winery to find them.”

Thirteen local wineries will be represented at the event. General admission tickets are $10, and they benefit United Way of Anderson County. They include a wine tote and tasting glass to take home, the press release said.

[Read more…]

Photos: Old AMSE building being demolished

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The former American Museum of Science and Energy building on South Tulane Avenue is being demolished, and apartments are planned on the site. (Photo courtesy Mike Mahathy)

The former American Museum of Science and Energy building is being demolished, and apartments are planned on the site.

The apartment project is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.

Now called Main Street Lofts, the $32 million apartment project has included an agreement to reduce property taxes and the transfer of what had been federal property from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city and then to TN Oak Ridge Illinois, a company affiliated with RealtyLink, the developer of Main Street Oak Ridge.

The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina company, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.

[Read more…]

Data center could be built on Summit, tax incentive to be considered

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

This building of about 30,000 square feet on Pine Ridge, also known as The Summit, was once used to store documents for the Y-12 National Security Complex. It could now be used for a data center. The Summit is on Pine Ridge along South Illinois Avenue between Scarboro Road/Lafayette Drive and Centrifuge Way. It’s pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A data center could be built in an existing building on Pine Ridge, also known as The Summit, off South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The project has been proposed by GIGA Data Centers of Atlanta.

The data center would be in the building on The Summit that was once used by the Y-12 National Security Complex to store documents. The building, which is about 30,000 square feet, would be retrofitted.

[Read more…]

UCOR cleanup contract extended

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site), which is pictured above, is being cleaned up by UCOR for the U.S. Department of Energy. (Photo by UCOR)

The UCOR contract to clean up federal sites in Oak Ridge has been extended one year to July 31, 2021, and the consideration of a new cleanup contract won’t be considered until November 2020 at the earliest.

The UCOR contract could be extended one additional year, to July 31, 2022, using two six-month options, depending upon contractor performance and progress.

Before the extension, UCOR’s contract had been scheduled to expire July 31, 2020.

UCOR works on cleanup projects for the U.S. Department of Energy at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. The work includes the demolition of old, contaminated buildings that are no longer used. The cleanup work is called environmental management, or EM.

[Read more…]

JCPenney re-opens in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, May 15, 2020, after closing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Oak Ridge store, pictured above on May 5, has re-opened. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The JCPenney store in Oak Ridge has re-opened. The store is in Main Street Oak Ridge in the center of the city.

The store is open limited hours: from 12-7 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday.

There are dedicated hours for at-risk customers: 11 a.m.-12 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday. At-risk customers include the elderly, pregnant women, and people with underlying health issues.

It hadn’t been clear if the Oak Ridge store, which had been temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, would re-open after JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, May 15.

But it is now open. Customers can enter through the doors on the Cinemark Tinseltown side of the store.

[Read more…]

Oak Ridge plans a downtown; chalk art on Saturday will promote it

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A view looking south onto West Main Street into a proposed area of restaurants and shops surrounding a landscaped courtyard off Wilson Street. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

A chalk art event on Saturday will promote a proposal to build a downtown area that could include apartments and condominiums, restaurants and stores, and green space and an outdoor performance space at Wilson Street on the north side of Main Street Oak Ridge.

The chalk art event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 23. It will feature 15 professional artists, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release.

It’s called “Paint the Town with Chalk,” and it will help people visualize what the downtown area could be like, the press release said.

Oak Ridge was built to help make the world’s first atomic bombs as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II, and officials say the city was built without a distinct downtown for national security reasons. Now, they are trying to change that.

The goal is to transform the Wilson Street area into the city’s new downtown, according to a presentation last fall by Oak Ridge Community Development Director Wayne Blasius.

The downtown area could include:

[Read more…]

JCPenney files for bankruptcy; Oak Ridge store remains closed

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

JCPenney filed for bankruptcy on Friday, May 15, 2020, and the Oak Ridge store, pictured above on May 5, remains closed. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 3 p.m. May 20.

Saddled with debt and already struggling, JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday after closing its stores because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Oak Ridge store remains closed.

It’s not clear if or when the Oak Ridge store will re-open. It’s listed as temporarily closed.

Other JCPenney stores that are listed as temporarily closed in the area include locations in Turkey Creek in Farragut, West Town Mall in Knoxville, and Foothills Mall in Maryville.

JCPenney is the largest retailer to file for bankruptcy protection since the COVID-19 pandemic forced stores to temporarily close, according to CBS News.

There are only two JCPenney stores open in Tennessee. They are both near Nashville in Middle Tennessee. One is in Mt. Juliet, and the other is in Murfreesboro.

The company closed its stores and offices about two months ago, on March 18, because of COVID-19. It temporarily furloughed most hourly store employees starting April 2.

In a press release Friday, JCPenney said it will close stores in phases during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But details about the specific stores and their closing dates haven’t been announced.

JCPenney didn’t initially say how many stores might close, but over the weekend, there were reports that the company planned to close almost 30 percent of its 846 stores—about 192 stores by February and another 50 in 2022. That will leave the company, one of America’s most well-known chains, with just over 600 stores. Before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the United States, JCPenney had announced plans to close six of its stores in April, according to CNN.

[Read more…]

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today