Oak Ridge Today

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…]

Oak Ridge Mall plan receives key endorsement from city board

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Oak Ridge Mall TIF Public Hearing

Ray Evans, right, Oak Ridge economic development consultant, explains an economic impact plan for the proposed $85 million redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall. Also pictured seated at left are Tim Sittema, a partner in Crosland Southeast, a North Carolina commercial real estate company, and James Murphy, center, a Nashville attorney.

The $85 million redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall received a key endorsement Thursday when a city board unanimously recommended a plan that would allow new property tax revenues generated at the site to be used to help pay for development costs.

It’s known as a tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement, and it could be worth $13 million and last 20 years. In an 8-0 vote during a special meeting Thursday, the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board recommended the plan to the Oak Ridge City Council and Anderson County Commission, which could consider it in November.

Tim Sittema, a partner in Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has had a purchase contract on the mall since January, said the commercial real estate firm doesn’t have signed leases for the proposed redevelopment yet but is focused on 20 or 30 larger potential tenants.

If all goes well, the sale of the mall could close in the middle of next year, and demolition could then start immediately and last three to four months. Construction could last about 1.5 years, Sittema told the IDB. That means the redeveloped property, which would be named Freedom Park, could open in 2016. [Read more…]

IDB has public hearing, special meeting to consider mall plan Thursday

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Oak Ridge Mall Master Plan

A city board will have a public hearing and special meeting Thursday to consider a tax financing agreement for the $80 million redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall. (Submitted image)

A city board will have a public hearing and special meeting Thursday to consider a tax financing agreement for the $80 million redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall.

The public hearing starts at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. It will include a presentation by Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has a purchase contract on the mall and has proposed redeveloping it. The public hearing will also include public comments.

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board will have a special meeting after the public hearing to consider approving the tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement, which could be recommended to Oak Ridge City Council and Anderson County Commission. [Read more…]

Tax financing meeting for Oak Ridge Mall postponed

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Oak Ridge Mall

A meeting to consider a tax financing agreement for the redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall has been postponed. The L-shaped mall is pictured at center above.

The meeting to consider a tax incentive that could be used to help redevelop the Oak Ridge Mall has been postponed in order to allow a city board to update its policy to reflect current state law, a city consultant said Friday.

The meeting, which had been scheduled for Sept. 26, could be rescheduled two to three weeks later, economic development consultant Ray Evans said.

He said the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board has a tax increment financing, or TIF, policy that was initially enacted in 2008 and last updated in 2011. [Read more…]

City board will consider tax incentive, development area for Oak Ridge Mall

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Oak Ridge Mall Redevelopment Area

The Oak Ridge Mall economic development area is pictured above. The map shows a contiguous area that could be affected economically by the proposed development, which only includes the former 60-acre mall property, according to a city consultant. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

A city board this month will consider a financing arrangement that could be worth up to $10 million and allow a North Carolina company to use new property tax revenues generated at a redeveloped Oak Ridge Mall to be used for site development, possibly including for roads, stoplights, and demolition work.

Many of the details aren’t available yet, including the precise amount of the proposed tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement and the length of time it could be in effect. The details will be discussed at a Sept. 26 meeting of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, when members will consider an economic impact plan, city consultant Ray Evans said.

The economic development area could include about 90 acres. It would include the 60-acre mall and could include an apartment complex and museum, movie theater and pizza shop, real estate firm and hotel, and several busy stores on Oak Ridge Turnpike—properties that could benefit from the TIF, Evans said.

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IDB endorses professional services contract with Chamber

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The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce could provide an office for the Industrial Development Board, store its files, prepare its meeting minutes and agendas, and take care of its accounting under a proposal endorsed Monday.

The Chamber would do the work for $25,000 per year, IDB Chair David Wilson told board members. [Read more…]

IDB to discuss contract on Bethel Valley lot, agreement with Chamber

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The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board on Monday will discuss a contract to purchase a lot in the Bethel Valley Industrial Park and an agreement with the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

The IDB meets at 4 p.m. Monday in the Municipal Building Training Room.

IDB endorses project to add power at Horizon Center, subject to TVA grant

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With a pre-application deadline this Wednesday, the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board agreed last week to commit $750,000 to a project to increase the electrical capacity at Horizon Center Business Park if the city gets a matching grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The project, which would add 14 megawatts to the park’s electrical capacity with the potential to add more later, would extend power from a substation on Blair Road in west Oak Ridge to the edge of Lot 5 on the back side of Horizon Center. It would install 13 kilovolt lines on poles that could hold 69 kilovolt lines later. [Read more…]

Protomet could use tax break to double plant size, add workers

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A tax break recommended by an Oak Ridge board on Monday could help a parts manufacturer more than double the size of its plant and add 20-30 workers, an executive said.

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board endorsed the five-year, 100 percent property tax break for Protomet—which makes marine, automotive, and homeland security equipment—in a special meeting Monday.

But Oak Ridge City Council member Anne Garcia Garland suggested there could be some opposition later. She said residents want to know why Protomet, which has become successful with the help of one tax abatement, should receive another. [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.

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IDB, YPOR elect new officers

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The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board and Young Professionals of Oak Ridge have elected new officers.

During its regular meeting last week, the IDB elected David E. Wilson as chair, Harold D. Osucha as vice chair, and Harold E. Trapp as secretary and treasurer. Former chair Bill Biloski did not seek re-appointment to the board in December.

Meanwhile, the YPOR elected Jimmy Landmesser Jr. as president, Zabrina Minor as president-elect, Caitlin Watson as treasurer, and Sam Jones as secretary.

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