Oak Ridge Today

Alexander Inn ballroom demolished as renovation work begins

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Alexander Inn Ballroom Demolition

Workers have demolished the damaged ballroom at the historic Alexander Inn, a dilapidated two-story hotel that has been vacant for years and is now being converted into an assisted living center.

Workers have demolished the ballroom at the historic but dilapidated Alexander Inn as part of a project to convert the vacant two-story hotel into an assisted living center.

There are about a dozen workers at the three-acre site on East Madison Road, including framers and demolition, cleanup, and abatement crews, project manager Shea Ramsey said Thursday.

The flat-roof addition that included the ballroom, kitchen, and dining room had leaked, and the wood had rotted. Project officials have previously said the ballroom and kitchen would be demolished and rebuilt. [Read more…]

Final sale day at Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.

The first estate sale at the Alexander Inn was very popular, and now the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance plans to have a second.

It will be this Saturday, and the ETPA said it’s the second and final estate “tag” sale.

The sale will from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. ETPA is holding it in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

With renovations under way, hundreds shop at Alexander Inn estate sale

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Alexander Inn Estate Sale

Hundreds of people lined up at the Alexander Inn on Saturday for an estate sale, an unprecedented opportunity to buy items ranging from bed frames and Bibles to chairs and chandeliers, before the vacant, historic hotel is converted into an assisted living center. (Photo by Don Hunnicutt)

Renovations have started at the historic Alexander Inn, and on Saturday, hundreds of people shopped at an estate sale at the vacant, two-story hotel, taking advantage of an unprecedented opportunity to buy items from the 1940s to the 1980s, including bed frames and Bibles, chairs and chandeliers, and dishes and dressers.

Halfway through the three-hour sale, a project executive estimated that more than 500 people had attended. At one point, the line of people waiting to get in stretched from the hotel, located on East Madison Road, to Kentucky Avenue, said Rick Dover, general manager of Family Pride, which has proposed converting the dilapidated hotel into an assisted living center. [Read more…]

East Tennessee nonprofit has estate sale at Alexander Inn on May 25

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center. An East Tennessee nonprofit will have an estate sale there on May 25.

An East Tennessee nonprofit organization will have an estate sale at the Alexander Inn on May 25.

The historic two-story hotel, unused for about two decades, is being converted into an assisted living center. The estate sale will give the public a one-time opportunity to walk through a portion of the historic inn before renovations begin and purchase furnishings from the 1940s through the 1980s, a press release said.

The sale, which is scheduled form 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 25, is being organized by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

Company closes deal on Alexander Inn, plans to use for assisted living center

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.

It’s been in the works for months, and officials announced on Tuesday that a local company has purchased the historic but rundown Alexander Inn.

Family Pride Corp. plans to convert the vacant two-story hotel into an assisted living center.

The sale was announced by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance, a key player in the project. A press release said the agreement announced Tuesday includes a preservation easement with ETPA that will ensure the building is protected forever. [Read more…]

Alexander Inn on endangered places list again

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Alexander Inn

The Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge has again been named an endangered place in East Tennessee.

The Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge has again been named an endangered place in East Tennessee.

The vacant, two-story hotel was included on a list of 17 endangered places released by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance on Monday. The Alexander Inn, which could soon be converted into an assisted living center, has been on the list in previous years as well.

Announced Monday in Knoxville, the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance’s list includes endangered historic buildings and places in a 16-county region.

[Read more…]

Two Anderson County properties receive preservation awards

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CapitalMark Bank and Trust Preservation Award

Pictured is David Bradshaw, second from right, with an East Tennessee Preservation Award for CapitalMark Bank and Trust in Oak Ridge, and Todd Morgan, left, chair of the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance’s advocacy committee, state historic preservation officer Patrick McIntyre, and ETPA President Scott Brooks. (Photo by Ethiel Garlington.)

Two Anderson County properties have received preservation awards from the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.

The Anderson County award winners were CapitalMark Bank and Trust, and Jon Overton Log House.

The 2012 East Tennessee Preservation Awards were announced during a recent preservation conference at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, a press release said. About 100 people from all parts of East Tennessee attended the conference.

[Read more…]

City board recommends tax break for Alexander Inn project

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Note: This story was updated at 11:16 p.m.

An Oak Ridge board has endorsed a 90 percent, 10-year tax break for a project to convert the vacant, run-down Alexander Inn into an assisted living center.

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board recommended the tax break, officially known as a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, in a 6-0 vote during a special meeting Thursday. It will now be considered by Oak Ridge City Council on Oct. 22.

Even with the temporary tax break, Oak Ridge and Anderson County will continue to receive at least as much in property taxes as they do now, said Ray Evans, an economic development consultant for the city.

The project to redevelop the two-story hotel on three acres in Jackson Square has been proposed by Family Pride Corp. of Loudon and InSite Development Corp. of Knoxville.

Construction of the $4.5 million, 60-unit assisted living center could take roughly a year.

The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, could help with public improvements that include a new road for cars that now drive through the Alexander Inn property, relocation of a storm sewer under the building, environmental remediation, building stabilization, and code compliance. Family Pride has said the project is not economically feasible without the tax break.

[Read more…]

Community celebrates K-25 historic preservation agreement

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K-25 Building

The mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building is pictured above. The North Tower, which historic preservationists had lobbied to save for years, is in the center background. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

An agreement officially announced Friday morning clears the way for the historic K-25 North Tower to be demolished, calls for a replica equipment building and viewing tower, proposes a history center at a nearby city-owned fire station, and provides a $500,000 grant for the run-down Alexander Inn.

The agreement wraps up a decade of discussion over how to commemorate the historic contributions of K-25, which was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to make the world’s first atomic bombs.

Historic preservationists lobbied for years to save the North Tower, but concerns over safety, the deteriorated condition of the building, and cost appear to have made that impractical. Much of the rest of the K-25 Building has already been torn down.

Those who signed the agreement include the U.S. Department of Energy, the State Office of Historic Preservation, the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the City of Oak Ridge, and the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.

[Read more…]

Final signature clears way for demolition of K-25 North Tower

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K-25 Demolition

Demolition is almost complete on most of the K-25 Building’s East Wing, and work on the North Tower, pictured in the background at left, could start in September. (Photo submitted by UCOR)

Historic preservationists lobbied for years to save the North Tower of the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge, but an agreement that received a final signature on Tuesday clears the way for demolition work to begin there in late September or early October.

“It allows us to proceed with our cleanup activities … without delay,” said Mike Koentop, U.S. Department of Energy spokesman in the Oak Ridge Office.

However, officials plan to pay homage to the site, built during World War II to enrich uranium for atomic bombs, with a replica equipment building, viewing tower, and nearby history center, as well as a Web-based virtual museum and a $500,000 grant to buy and stabilize the dilapidated, historic Alexander Inn in central Oak Ridge.

[Read more…]