Cutline: The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce hosted a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Grand Opening of the Everything in Motion exhibit in the Innovators Gallery at the American Museum of Science and Energy on Friday, August 27. The exhibit is sponsored by RDI Technologies.
AMSE re-opens
After a long closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Museum of Science and Energy has re-opened.
AMSE re-opened at 9 a.m. Friday, May 21.
AMSE will be open to a limited number of visitors at a time, 50. Museum visitors will be asked to maintain an appropriate physical distance from others (the general guidance has been to maintain a distance of six feet or more, when possible, from people who live outside your home).
[Read more…]Photos: Old AMSE building being demolished
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…]For members: Chinns part of apartment project on former AMSE site
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The former American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and his brother Ryan are minority partners in the project to build apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site.
Rick Chinn, a developer, said this month that the project will bring much-needed apartments to the city, allowing more people who work in Oak Ridge to live here. The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina developer, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.
Now called Main Street Lofts, the 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 a developer. It will include the demolition of the former AMSE building. It is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.
Rick Chinn and his father, Richard Chinn, a member of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, have been abstaining from votes related to the apartment project for at least a year.
They have not been required to explain their abstentions, but Oak Ridge Today has asked Rick and Richard Chinn why they have been abstaining.
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Leadership Oak Ridge provides outdoor seating area at AMSE
Members of the 2019 Leadership Oak Ridge Class recently graduated and dedicated their class project: a gathering space near the American Museum of Science and Energy. (Submitted photo)
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Information from Kathy Gillenwaters and Amanda Meixel Kinghorn
Members of the Leadership Oak Ridge program recently finished a project that provides enhancements to the American Museum of Science and Energy. The multi-offering project was made possible through numerous volunteer hours from participants and generous donations from local businesses, a press release said.
Additions include a new outdoor seating area, landscaping, and beautification installations, the press release said.
“The new gathering area was a project of particular importance and filled a need that existed since AMSE’s location change last year,” the release said.
AMSE now has outdoor classroom space, transition space for rotating large groups through the educational facility, and seating for the bus tour that departs from the building nine months of the year. The project also included new landscaping and beautification pieces that enhance the visual appeal of Oak Ridge’s expanding Main Street area, the press release said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge receives award for partnership that led to AMSE opening in new space
The City of Oak Ridge has received an award for the intergovernmental partnership that led to the American Museum of Science and Energy opening in a new centrally located space in Main Street Oak Ridge.
The 2019 Community Partnership Award was presented to the city by the International City/County Management Association, or ICMA.
“The award recognizes innovative programs or processes between and/or among a local government and other governmental entities, private sector businesses, individuals, or nonprofit agencies to improve the quality of life for residents or provide more efficient and effective services,” a press release said.
The City of Oak Ridge was formally honored during a Celebration of Service to the Profession as part of ICMA’s Annual Conference on Wednesday, October 23. Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, Government Affairs and Information Services Director Amy Fitzgerald, and Administrative Services Director Bruce Applegate accepted the award in Nashville.
[Read more…]AMSE celebrates 70 years
Image courtesy American Museum of Science and Energy
The American Museum of Science and Energy is celebrating 70 years. As part of the celebration, there are three events scheduled next week, on March 19 and March 23, at AMSE and Oak Ridge History Museum.
It’s being called a platinum anniversary celebration of science, ingenuity, and the catalyst of the Atomic Age.
“As an anchor of the community, AMSE is proud to celebrate a city that once only existed a vision,” a press release said. “The footprint of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will forever be etched into history as one of the foundations of the Manhattan Project. Seventy years ago, steps were taken to preserve that vision and recognize how the world was changed by the ‘Secret City.’ The museum tells the story about how and why people learned to split the atom. On March 19, 1949, the city’s gates and the nation’s first atomic energy museum, named the American Museum of Atomic Energy, were opened to the public for the first time. [Read more…]
Black History Month Kick-Off:Â ‘A Journey through the World of Art with African-American Artists’
The Oak Ridge Chapter of Blacks in Government (BIG), the American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE), and the U.S. Department of Energy are sponsoring an evening with African-American artists on Friday, February 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., a press release said.
This event will be held at AMSE, which is located at 115 Main Street East in Oak Ridge. This event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served, the press release said. [Read more…]
Director of National Museum of Nuclear Science & History to speak in Oak Ridge
Jim Walther (Photo courtesy ORHPA)
The director of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in New Mexico will speak in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.
The talk by the director, Jim Walther, is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January, 22, at the American Museum of Science and Energy, which relocated to renovated space near JCPenney at Main Street Oak Ridge in October.
The talk is hosted by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association and AMSE.
“Make your plans now to attend this exceptional event,” a press release said. “The evening public forum meeting is free, and the public is encouraged to attend. Jim Walther will provide unique museum insights to help us learn more about the opportunities that may be available to Oak Ridge and our museums from an experienced museum professional of 39 years. [Read more…]
Council to discuss next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge on Tuesday
Most of Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in this proposed plan from Nov. 29, 2018.
After they rejected a revised plan for the project on Monday, the Oak Ridge City Council will discuss next steps for Main Street Oak Ridge on Tuesday.
It wasn’t clear this week what might happen next.
The revised plan that City Council rejected in a 4-3 vote on Monday would have allowed four national retailers to build stores at Main Street Oak Ridge. It would have required the closure of the access road from Rutgers Avenue to the roundabout at Main Street, allowing the four stores to be built along a sidewalk between JCPenney and PetSmart. It would have removed the 230 or so multi-family residential units that had been proposed by Crosland Southeast, the original developer, in the area between JCPenney and Walmart. And it would have moved the proposed mixed-use development to a future phase along Wilson Street.
This past Tuesday, after Council rejected the revised plan, three people involved in the project, including RealtyLink, the current developer, said there is no other design, no “plan B.†[Read more…]
Council approves plan for apartments at former AMSE site
The Oak Ridge City Council approved a rezoning and planned unit development on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a plan that would allow apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site on South Tulane Avenue.
The apartment proposal requires a rezoning and the approval of a plan for a planned unit development, or PUD.
They were approved in a 5-1-1 vote in the first of two readings on Monday. The second and final reading will presumably be in February.
Voting for the plan were Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch and City Council members Kelly Callison, Jim Dodson, Derrick Hammond, and Ellen Smith. [Read more…]
Planning Commission unanimously approves apartments at former AMSE site
The main parking lot and main entrance to the former American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue is pictured above on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning and master plan on Thursday that will allow apartments on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.
The approval, which passed on a unanimous voice vote, functions as a recommendation to the Oak Ridge City Council, which could consider the project in January. Council could consider the rezoning and master plan in two monthly meetings, or readings.
The apartment complex could include 217 units in seven three-story buildings on the northern side of the former AMSE site. They would be built on about 10 acres where the former museum building and its big parking lot are now, just south of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.
AMSE has moved across the street to Main Street Oak Ridge, the roughly 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]
