Oak Ridge Today

Board orders demolition of Price Florist

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Price Florist

A city board on Thursday ordered the owner of Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike to demolish the building within 60 days.

A city board on Thursday ordered the owner of the former Price Florist building on Oak Ridge Turnpike to demolish it within 60 days.

The Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals had considered whether to issue a demolition or repair order for the once-thriving store at three other meetings this year, but members had given property owner Patricia Warren of Crossville several extensions to allow her time to come back with a sales contract, repair plan, or demolition permit. On Thursday, they said she had run out of time.

“I think we’ve bent over backwards to accommodate you and your property,” board member Philip Nipper said before the 6-0 vote in favor of demolition. [Read more…]

Pictures: Land being cleared quickly, hotels demolished at Kroger Marketplace site

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Kroger Marketplace Land Clearing

Now that the project has received final approval, crews are working quickly to finish demolishing and cleaning up hotels and homes, remove trees, and clear land at the 25-acre site of a Kroger Marketplace shopping center northeast of the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue. The former Robin Lane is in the center of the picture.

Now that the project has received final approval, crews are working quickly to finish demolishing hotels and homes, clean up debris, remove trees, and clear land for a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center at one of the city’s busiest intersections.

Building construction could start in early October, and there could be some blasting at the 25-acre site starting at 2 p.m. Friday.

The $30 million shopping center will be named the Westcott Center in honor of renowned photographer James Edward Westcott, and it is scheduled to open in August 2014. [Read more…]

Price Florist gets another 30 days for sale, repair, or demolition

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Price Florist

A city board has declared Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike a nuisance and unfit for human occupation and use, and members have given the property owner another 30 days to develop a repair plan, get a demolition permit, or reach an agreement to sell it.

The owner of the Price Florist property on Oak Ridge Turnpike has already been given two 30-day extensions to make repairs, demolish the building, or sell it.

On Thursday, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals gave property owner Patricia Warren of Crossville one last extension.

“There’s no more 30 days,” board member Joe Lee said. “We’ve burned them up.” [Read more…]

Demolition under way, construction could start this fall on Kroger Marketplace

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Kroger Marketplace Site Work

A half-dozen excavators, scrapers, dump trucks, bulldozers, and loaders were moving dirt and debris and knocking down trees late Friday afternoon on the north side of the planned Kroger Marketplace, near Raleigh Road and the former Robin Lane in Oak Ridge.

Demolition work is under way, and construction could start this fall on a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center in Oak Ridge that is expected to include a range of services from a fuel center and sushi shop to a drive-through pharmacy and Baby World.

Demolition at the shopping center—named the Westcott Center in honor of renowned photographer James Edward Westcott—began Monday, July 29, said Glynn Jenkins, director of communications and public relations for the The Kroger Co.’s Atlanta Division. Home demolition work is expected to be completed by Aug. 23.

The demolition of the former Super 8 motel, Vista Inn, and Cancun’s restaurant on Oak Ridge Turnpike and North Illinois Avenue is expected to start next week. [Read more…]

Water tower at East Tennessee Technology Park demolished

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K-25 Water Tower Demolition

The K-1206-F Fire Water Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park—the former K-25 site—before it was demolished Saturday. (Submitted photo)

One of the most iconic structures at East Tennessee Technology Park—the checkerboard water tower that has dominated the site’s skyline for 55 years—has been demolished.

UCOR and its subcontracting partners brought down the 382-foot-tall tower on Saturday through a controlled explosive demolition that sent the structure toppling into an empty field.

Officially called the K-1206-F Fire Water Tower, the 400,000-gallon structure was designed and built by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company in 1958 to service the site’s fire protection system. It operated until June 3, when the valves were turned off. It was drained, disconnected, and permanently taken out of service on July 15. [Read more…]

Price Florist gets another 30-day reprieve from demolition, repair order

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Price Florist

A city board has declared Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike a nuisance and unfit for human occupation and use, and members have given the property owner 30 days to develop a repair plan, get a demolition permit, or reach an agreement to sell it.

Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike got another 30-day reprieve from a repair or demolition order.

Property owner Patricia Warren of Crossville said she is cleaning up the property and has three serious prospective buyers. Two, including a chain that sells “products that you consume,” would demolish the building, and the third would relocate an existing Oak Ridge business from the edge of town to the 0.35-acre site in the heart of the city, Warren said. [Read more…]

City board reconsiders Price Florist demolition, repair order

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Price Florist

A city board has declared Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike a nuisance and unfit for human occupation and use, and on Thursday, members will reconsider a demolition or repair order for the building, which is now for sale.

A potential demolition order is looming, and the building is for sale.

For decades, it was home to Price Florist, but it’s now in “severe disrepair,” according to the Oak Ridge city staff.

In June, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals declared the now-unused store on busy Oak Ridge Turnpike to be a nuisance and unfit for human occupation or use. The board stopped short of issuing a demolition order and gave the property owner 30 days to present a repair or demolition plan. [Read more…]

City board will consider demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist

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Price Florist

A city board next week will consider issuing a demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

A city board next week will consider issuing a demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The city staff has recommended that the structure, used for a longtime floral business, be declared unfit for human occupation or use and has requested a demolition or cleanup order within 60 days.

The city required an “emergency vacate” on May 1, according to an agenda for the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals. A notice dated May 1 and still posted on the building’s front door said the building is deemed unfit for human occupation or use. It is to remain conspicuously posted until the structure is repaired or demolished. [Read more…]

Transite panels being removed from last part of K-25 Building

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K-25 Transite Removal

More than 2,800 transite panels will be removed from the remainder of the K-25 Building. (Submitted photo)

A federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge is removing exterior panels known as transite panels from the last part of the K-25 Building that is still standing.

K-25 was built to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II and was once the world’s largest building under one roof. It’s been unused for decades and is being torn down.

Most of the mile-long former gaseous diffusion building, located at East Tennessee Technology Park, has been demolished. About two million square feet of the U-shaped building have been removed, according to a Thursday press release from UCOR, the cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Removal of K-25 north end demolition debris almost complete

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K-25 North End Demolition

With the north end demolished, only a small part of the east wing remains at the once-massive K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Workers are almost done removing demolition debris from the K-25 Building’s north end.

Only a small section of the giant building’s east wing remains. It is contaminated with technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive isotope. Further deactivation of that section is needed before demolition can begin, according to a recent article in “Public Involvement News,” published by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]

After board declares them unfit, city posts ‘Danger’ signs on four Applewood buildings

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Applewood Apartments Danger Signs

The Oak Ridge municipal staff has posted yellow “Danger” signs on units at four Applewood Apartment buildings on Hunter Circle.

A few days after a city board declared them unfit, the Oak Ridge municipal staff posted yellow “Danger” signs on four Applewood Apartment buildings on Hunter Circle, officials said.

Posted on Tuesday, the placards say the 48 apartment units have been deemed unfit for human occupation or use, said Denny Boss, Oak Ridge code enforcement supervisor. The notices cannot be removed until the structures are repaired or demolished.

Joe Levitt, the Knoxville attorney who owns the apartments, disagrees that they are dangerous.

“The buildings are in satisfactory engineering and architectural condition,” he said Thursday. “There’s no question about that.” [Read more…]

Board reaffirms decision to declare four Applewood buildings ‘unfit’

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Applewood Apartments Board Hearing

Jim Odle of Odle and Young Architects in Knoxville shows a picture of a repair during a Thursday code enforcement hearing on four Applewood Apartments buildings. Also pictured at front center is Joe Levitt, owner of the apartment complex.

With no objections from members, a city board on Thursday reaffirmed a decision from more than two years ago to declare four Applewood Apartment buildings unfit for human occupation and use, and declare them nuisances.

Joe Lee, a member of the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, said the board’s November 2010 decision on the four buildings on Hunter Circle has already been upheld by the Anderson County Chancery Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

It wasn’t immediately clear what might happen next, including whether apartment owner Joe Levitt, a Knoxville attorney, might appeal the decision, and whether the city might issue an order to vacate the buildings. [Read more…]