Oak Ridge Today

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…]

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.

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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…]