Oak Ridge Today

Appeals court upholds Applewood warrants, board’s order to vacate

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The site of former Applewood Apartments buildings, which have been demolished, is pictured above at Hillside Road and East Hunter Circle on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The site of former Applewood Apartments buildings, which have been demolished, is pictured above at Hillside Road and East Hunter Circle on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

It’s not clear if it will make much difference now, but a state appeals court has upheld administrative warrants used by the City of Oak Ridge for inspections at Applewood Apartments and a city board order that had once called for vacating and demolishing six of the buildings.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville issued its opinion on Tuesday, July 24.

Joe Levitt, the owner of the former 13-building apartment complex on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle, had appealed a September 2016 order of the Anderson County Chancery Court in Clinton. That court, where M. Nichole Cantrell is chancellor, had granted summary judgement to the City of Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, and former codes enforcement supervisor Denny Boss. Levitt, who has battled the city for years, had sought to overturn an Oak Ridge order that the six Applewood Apartment buildings be vacated and demolished.

Inspections conducted with the help of Corum Engineering in 2009 had found multiple code violations and structural deficiencies at the six buildings, including cracks in foundations, damaged and rotten floor joists, and evidence of wood-destroying insect activity, as well as dead animals and animal feces in the basement and crawl space, and excessive debris, lack of smoke detectors, plumbing leaks, and damaged roofing materials, among other issues, according to last week’s opinion. Unless the defects were corrected, the 2009 engineering report said, the top floors of the buildings could collapse because of a lack of structural support, according to the opinion. [Read more…]

Former home of Oak Ridger, shops near Magic Wok could be demolished

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Wender Building

Most of a commercial building that once housed The Oak Ridger on Tyrone Road near Jackson Square could be demolished in six months under a plan proposed to a city board on Thursday. The Magic Wok restaurant, which is separate from the building, would remain, as would a small portion of the building.

 

Magic Wok

The detached Magic Wok diner would remain and so would the western portion of the building near the restaurant.

Note: This story was updated at 2:35 p.m. May 10.

Most of a commercial building that was once home to The Oak Ridger newspaper and other businesses on Tyler and East Tyrone roads could be demolished later this year, an engineer and surveyor told a city board on Thursday.

The western part of the building near the Magic Wok restaurant would remain, and so would the diner itself.

Roughly 26,000 square feet of the building, which has housed a wide variety of businesses since the 1940s, would be demolished down to the slab. The demolition of the property, which is also known as the Wender Building after a former owner, would include the space occupied for decades by Classic Cleaners.

Noel M. Peterson, owner of Coal Creek Surveying and Engineering of Lake City, briefly outlined the plans of the owners—Jia-Chao and Ming-Wha Wang—during a Thursday meeting of the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals.

Many of the details still have to be worked out with the Oak Ridge municipal staff, and the board gave the owners another 30 days. But it’s considered a last-chance extension. [Read more…]

Board could consider repair, demolition order near Magic Wok on Thursday

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Classic Cleaners

Located in a small shopping center on Tyler and Tyrone roads, Classic Cleaners was given 10 days to vacate in February after the city staff said it found very serious code violations and structural issues in the building, which also houses a handful of other businesses.

A city board on Thursday will again hear the two cases against the owners of a commercial building judged to be “in disrepair” near the Magic Wok restaurant in central Oak Ridge.

In February, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals tabled a demolition or repair order for 60 days to give the owners, Ma Shiu-Yen Wang and Ta-Shun Etal, time to sell the damaged property or develop a repair or demolition plan, the city staff said.

That 60-day postponement expired last Sunday.

The two cases concern the 50,000-square-feet commercial building at 123 and 135 E. Tyrone Road, just north of Oak Ridge Turnpike near Jackson Square. They exclude the manufactured structure that houses the Magic Wok, but they do include the areas in the small shopping center that have housed a dry cleaner, thrift store, wig shop, Mexican grocery, and the Magic Wok’s food preparation and overflow dining areas. [Read more…]

Dry cleaner with hole in roof has 10 days to vacate; other shops have 60 days

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Classic Cleaners

Located in a small shopping center on Tyler and Tyrone roads, Classic Cleaners was given 10 days to vacate after the city staff said it found very serious code violations and structural issues in the building, which also houses a handful of other businesses.

Note: This story was last updated at 2:40 p.m.

City officials have deemed a building housing five businesses in central Oak Ridge to be deteriorated and hazardous, and a municipal board has given a longtime dry cleaner located in the small shopping center on Tyrone Road 10 days to vacate.

Meanwhile, a few other businesses also located there—a thrift store, wig shop, and Mexican grocery—have been given 60 days to come up with a plan of action outlining what can be done to stabilize the building.

The order from the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals does not affect the Magic Wok, but it does apply to the restaurant’s food preparation and overflow dining areas.

The partially occupied 50,000-square-feet building is at 123 and 135 E. Tyrone Road, just north of Oak Ridge Turnpike near Jackson Square. It includes Classic Cleaners, Mia’s Gift Shop and Accessories, the New 2 U Thrift Store, and Tienda Nony International Marketplace. The Magic Wok diner is detached from the building and is not affected by the order, which was unanimously approved last Thursday. [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…]