Oak Ridge Today

Photo: Aerial view of Oak Ridge Mall demolition

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Aerial-View-of-Oak-Ridge-Mall-Demolition-Aug-22-2016

The demolition work at the former Oak Ridge Mall is pictured in this aerial view provided by Environmental Abatement Inc., or EAI, of Hendersonville, Tenn., on Monday, Aug. 22, 2016. The concrete slab in the center foreground is the area of the former Sears store, and the area behind it is the enclosed space between Belk, at left, and the former Proffitt’s men and housewares store, right center. Walmart is the white-roofed building partially pictured at right center. The former Sears auto shop was near Walmart. JCPenney is at center background at the far end of the L-shaped mall. (Photo courtesy EAI)

 

Note: This story was updated at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 23.

The demolition work at the former Oak Ridge Mall is pictured above in the aerial view provided Monday by Environmental Abatement Inc., or EAI, of Hendersonville, Tennessee.

On Thursday, EAI, the demolition and environmental contractor, said demolition work at the former Oak Ridge Mall was about 50 percent complete. The work appears to have proceeded quickly even since then, based on this aerial view. Most notably, piles of scrap metal that were in the area of the former Sears store, in the center foreground in the picture above, appear to have been hauled away.

Last week, EAI said it expected to start removing concrete slabs beginning this week. On Tuesday, August 23, it appeared that workers had, in fact, started tearing up the concrete slab near the former pick-up and drop-off door at the former Sears store, near Belk.

Demolition started at the former Sears store on Tuesday, July 26. It’s proceeded quickly from there to include the enclosed space next to Belk, which will remain in the redeveloped site, east toward Rutgers Avenue and the former Proffitt’s men’s and housewares store. The demolished space also included the area in the mall that was most recently used as a conference center. [Read more…]

Photos: Downtown Shopping Center

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Crowd Outside Walgreen Drugs on December 2, 1955

A crowd outside Walgreen Drugs at the former Downtown Shopping Center on December 2, 1955. (Photos courtesy Don Hunnicutt/Ed Westcott)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 a.m. Dec. 31.

After we learned that Guilford Glazer died last week, we asked Don Hunnicutt if he or Ed Westcott, the government’s official photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II, had any pictures of the former Downtown Shopping Center that we might use on Oak Ridge Today. Don sent five pictures Tuesday morning. (Thank you, Don and Ed!)

Glazer, who was born in Knoxville, died last week in Beverly Hills, California, at 93. His company built the former Downtown Shopping Center in Oak Ridge in the 1950s, and he still owns property in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. [Read more…]

Glazer, developer of former Downtown Shopping Center, dies at 93

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Guilford Glazer and Diane Pregerson Glazer

Guilford Glazer and Diane Pregerson Glazer (Source: Tel Aviv University)

 

Guilford Glazer

Guilford Glazer (Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University)

Note: This story was last updated at 12:30 p.m.

Philanthropist and developer Guilford Glazer, whose company built the former Downtown Shopping Center in Oak Ridge in the 1950s, died at his Beverly Hills home in California on Tuesday. He was 93.

Glazer, who still owns property in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, was born in Knoxville in 1921. He was one of seven children born to Eastern European immigrants, according to a story in the Beverly Hills Courier. He studied engineering at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for two years before joining the Navy during World War II, working in ship construction.

When he returned home from the war, Glazer entered the business world when he took over the family welding shop and turned it into a major steel fabrication business, Glazer Steel Corporation, the Courier said. Glazer Steel fabricated bridges and many other structures for the government of France, among many other customers.

“Glazer’s first development was a building in Knoxville that has been described as the city’s ‘first high-rise apartment building,'” the Courier said. “He entered the real estate business in 1951, when a company he led was selected by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to build a shopping center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That shopping center opened in 1955 and not long after, Glazer picked up and moved to Los Angeles.” [Read more…]