Oak Ridge Today

Gov. Haslam supports national preservation award for Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn Groundbreaking

Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn in November.

Gov. Bill Haslam is supporting a nomination for a national historic preservation award for a project converting the Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into an assisted living center.

Knox Heritage and East Tennessee Preservation Alliance have nominated the hotel for the 2014 The National Trust/Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation.

In a Feb. 25 letter, Haslam said he supports the nomination. The letter was sent to Stephanie Meeks at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C.

The Alexander Inn was built during World War II, when Oak Ridge raced to help build the world’s first atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Guests who once stayed at the two-story hotel included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]

Officials celebrate conversion of historic hotel to assisted living center

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Alexander Inn Groundbreaking

Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn on Thursday.

Top military leaders and scientists once stayed at this historic two-story hotel in the heart of Oak Ridge, and now it’s being converted into an assisted living center.

The $5.5 million renovation of the Alexander Inn at Jackson Square started in July, the culmination of a years-long preservation effort. It could be complete by mid-2014, said Rick Dover, manager of Family Pride Corp., the company converting the hotel.

The Guest House Senior Living at the Alexander Inn will have 62 rooms, including a 17-room memory care wing.

The hotel was built during the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Guests who once stayed there included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]

Alexander Inn groundbreaking, press conference Thursday

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Alexander Inn Ballroom Demolition

In June, workers had demolished the ballroom at the Alexander Inn, a historic, dilapidated two-story hotel that has been vacant for years and is now being converted into an assisted living facility. (File photo)

Local, state, and federal officials will join nonprofit and business executives for a formal groundbreaking and press conference on Thursday at the historic Alexander Inn, which is being converted into an assisted living center.

The press conference will start at 10 a.m. at the Guest House at the Alexander Inn Senior Living, which is at 210 E. Madison Road on the northwest side of Jackson Square. Representatives from the City of Oak Ridge, U.S. Department of Energy, Tennessee Historical Commission, East Tennessee Preservation Alliance, and Family Pride Corp. are all expected to take part.

The iconic two-story hotel had been unused for about two decades and fallen into disrepair. Family Pride Corp. has been rehabilitating the Manhattan Project-era building since May. It’s been stabilized, but the building will not be completed until mid-2014, a press release said. [Read more…]

Officials to offer update on Alexander Inn project tonight

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Guest House

The Guest House in Oak Ridge, now known as the Alexander Inn, as it looked during the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II. (Photo by Ed Westcott)

Rick Dover, general manager of the company converting the historic Alexander Inn into an assisted living center, will provide an update on the project during an Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association meeting this evening.

Also present will be Knox Heritage’s Ethiel Garlington, director of preservation field services for the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today (Thursday, July 11) in the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road at the corner of Robertsville Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

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…]

Council approves tax break for Alexander Inn assisted living center

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Alexander Inn

The Oak Ridge City Council has approved a 90 percent, 10-year tax break for two development companies who want to convert the historic but rundown Alexander Inn into an assisted living center.

The Oak Ridge City Council has unanimously approved a 90 percent, 10-year tax break for a project to convert the rundown Alexander Inn into an assisted living center.

Officially known as a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, the tax break will be used to build a new road for cars that now drive through the three-acre site, move a storm sewer under the two-story building, and help remove asbestos, among other things.

The PILOT was endorsed in a 6-0 vote by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development board on Oct. 11. The proposal to reuse the historic hotel is also supported by members of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, which has lobbied to save the building for more than a decade.

Also known as The Guest House, the Alexander Inn has been unused for more than two decades. In recent years, it has fallen into disrepair, the victim of animals, vandals, and weather.

City code enforcement efforts against the property date back to 2005, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said during a Monday night City Council meeting.

Even with the temporary tax break, city officials said, Oak Ridge and Anderson County will continue to receive at least as much in property taxes as they do now, or about $3,900 per year each.

The project has been proposed by Family Pride Corp. of Loudon and InSite Development Corp. of Knoxville. Family Pride has said the project is not economically feasible without the tax break.

Construction of the $4.5 million, 60-unit assisted living center, which would include a wing for patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia, could take roughly a year.

The Alexander Inn developers have said they are ready to immediately start remediation and rehabilitation work once Council approves the PILOT.

The Alexander Inn once hosted such dignitaries as physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi, and Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

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…]

Loudon company wants to use Alexander Inn as assisted living center

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A Loudon company has proposed converting the historic but run-down Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into a $6 million, 60-unit assisted living senior center.

Family Pride Corp. has requested a 90 percent, 10-year tax property tax break on the three-acre site. Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board members will be briefed on the proposal Monday and consider recommending it to City Council during a special Oct. 11 meeting.

Family Pride would work with InSite Development Corp. of Knoxville to redevelop the two-story hotel, which was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.

[Read more…]