K-25 site Archives - Page 5 of 5

Gooch: Main Street No. 1 priority, gives updates on National Park, reappraisals, airport

Posted at 1:08 am May 6, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Main Street Oak Ridge Site Plan April 16, 2015

Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch on Tuesday said his number one priority for the community is the successful development of Main Street Oak Ridge, which would redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. Pictured above is a cropped picture of the Main Street Oak Ridge site plan as of April 16. A link to a larger PDF version of the plan is included in the story below.

Note: Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch gave an update on positive developments and challenges during a talk to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, May 5. Here is a lightly edited version of his remarks, which organized the positive developments and challenges into sections. Gooch was appointed mayor by the seven-member Oak Ridge City Council on November 24. This is his first four-year term on the City Council.

It is a distinct privilege for me to serve as your mayor, but I always preface my remarks by saying that I am not speaking today for Council or for the city manager. I have one vote on Council, but I do consider myself to be the chairman of the board of directors for the city.

In that capacity, as I enter my sixth month of service as mayor, I want to share my thoughts about positive developments in our city, discuss near-term challenges that we face, share the results that I have from the community survey that I have been conducting, and leave time for your questions and comments.

First. My number one priority for our community is the successful development of Main Street Oak Ridge (which would redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall), and it is moving forward. Last week, Crosland Southeast announced that MDC Development Group of Atlanta will be the hotel developer for the project. MDC is also a major developer in the senior housing industry and 15 months ago opened Canterfield Oak Ridge Assisted Living. It has been very successful and well-received in our community.

I was advised yesterday (Monday, May 4) that the retail leasing component of the Main Street project is moving forward, as are the negotiations with a developer for the multi-family housing component of the Main Street project. Groundbreaking and demolition for Main Street is on schedule to begin by June 30. [Read more…]

Groundbreaking, demolition for Main Street Oak Ridge on schedule for June 30, mayor says

Posted at 1:31 pm May 5, 2015
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Warren Gooch

Groundbreaking and demolition for Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall, is on schedule to begin by June 30, Mayor Warren Gooch said Tuesday.

The $80 million redevelopment of the 60-acre site in the heart of the city is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated project of the past decade.

Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has proposed Main Street Oak Ridge, announced last week that MDC Development Group of Atlanta will be the hotel developer at the site.

“MDC is also a major developer in the senior housing industry and 15 months ago opened Canterfield Oak Ridge Assisted Living,” Gooch said. “It has been very successful and well-received in our community.” [Read more…]

Council to discuss impact of proposed DOE landfill during Friday meeting

Posted at 12:29 am May 5, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Reservation with Bear Creek Valley

The proposed Environmental Management Disposal Facility would be built between the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, or EMWMF.

Oak Ridge officials will discuss the community impact of a proposed landfill that would hold waste from cleanup work at federal sites during a work session on Friday.

The Oak Ridge City Council work session is scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 8, in the Municipal Building Training Room.

Council will be briefed on the Draft Community Impact Assessment of the proposed Environmental Management Disposal Facility by Karl Kalbacher, project manager for The Ferguson Group, a company that helps the city with its federal legislative agenda in Washington, D.C.

The Environmental Management Disposal Facility would be built on Bear Creek Road west of the Y-12 National Security Complex near another landfill that is already in use and has been operating since 2002. It could cost $1 billion, including construction and 23 years of operations. [Read more…]

Council to discuss DOE funding, support tonight

Posted at 8:46 am October 20, 2014
By John Huotari 2 Comments

The Oak Ridge City Council has a special meeting tonight to discuss U.S. Department of Energy support and funding. (File photo/August 2013)

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss U.S. Department of Energy funding and support during a special meeting tonight. It’s described at least in part as an “information-gathering session.”

The special meeting was called by City Council members Trina Baughn and Charlie Hensley. Hensley, in particular, has raised questions about whether DOE is paying its fair share to the city.

Here’s the language outlining tonight’s discussion:

“to discuss and possibly take action on a plan to engage DOE officials with regards to their obligations to the City of Oak Ridge and its citizenry. Let it [the special meeting request] include formally requesting, in writing, a DOE Community Assistance Review as allowed within AECA 1955, PL 84-221, DOE Order 2100.12A, and other supporting legislation, including those self-sufficiency plans dating from 1980 through a Council Resolution and other joint local government collaborative action to include a specific date for a response.”

[Read more…]

New AMSE director to start July 1, ORNL to operate museum

Posted at 12:21 pm June 26, 2014
By Sara Wise Leave a Comment

The American Museum of Science and Energy is on South Tulane Avenue. (Photos by Sara Wise)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is taking a more active role in Oak Ridge’s American Museum of Science and Energy. ORNL’s Director of Communications David Keim said the lab hopes to find better ways to tell the city’s historical story while reducing costs.

He said that the museum’s current contract with Enterprise Advisory Services Inc. would not be renewed at the end of this month, when ORNL will begin operating AMSE. He said preparations are being made to ensure a seamless transition.

Keim said that the transition was made after a team of museum professionals came to the area. After seeing many of Oak Ridge’s historical sites, such as the former K-25 site and ORNL’s first graphite reactor, they called the sites “remarkable” and the historical story “enormous,” according to Keim.

One of the professionals recommended hiring another museum professional to help with the transition period. David Moore was interviewed and hired to assess the museum as a consultant on a one-year term for ORNL, beginning April 15. [Read more…]

Funeral, community reception for city historian Bill Wilcox on Saturday

Posted at 9:09 am September 4, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Bill Wilcox

A funeral and community reception have been scheduled for Saturday for Bill Wilcox, a chemist who came to Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project in World War II and went on to become technical director for federal facilities K-25 and Y-12, was named Oak Ridge city historian, and led the fight to preserve the history of the former K-25 site, which was built during World War II to enrich uranium for atomic bombs.

The funeral is at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at 212 N. Tulane Ave. in Oak Ridge. The community reception is at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the lobby at Pollard Auditorium at Oak Ridge Associated Universities at 120 Badger Ave. [Read more…]

Community celebrates K-25 historic preservation agreement

Posted at 11:59 pm August 10, 2012
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

DOE drafts $17.5M plan to preserve K-25 history

Posted at 11:11 am June 20, 2012
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

All of the K-25 building would be demolished under a draft agreement issued by the U.S. Department of Energy last week, but a replica equipment building would be erected as part of a plan to honor the history of the massive uranium enrichment plant.

The replica building would have three stories and a basement, and it would display equipment used to enrich uranium through a process called gaseous diffusion.

[Read more…]

DOE to discuss ETTP historic preservation Thursday

Posted at 9:12 am May 16, 2012
By Dawn Huotari Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management program is hosting a Thursday morning meeting to discuss preservation plans for the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site.

This public meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the conference room of Building 2714-G, which is located across from the Federal Building in Oak Ridge. There will be an opportunity for the public to provide comments.

[Read more…]

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