Oak Ridge Today

Council to discuss city marketing, eighth rowing lane, housing, Main Street

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Officials and referees monitor races on the seven-lane rowing course at the 2016 SIRA Championship Regatta in Oak Ridge on Sunday, April 17, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday will discuss city marketing, the potential eighth lane at the rowing course, housing, and Main Street Oak Ridge.

The issues will be discussed during a non-voting work session of the Oak Ridge City Council at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, in the Multipurpose Room of the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane, which is behind the Kmart shopping center.

There are other agenda items that could also be discussed: pending U.S. Department of Energy projects and public comment requests, and updates on the Oak Ridge Senior Center and Friendship Bell.

The report on visitation marketing will be presented by Marc DeRose, executive director of Explore Oak Ridge (the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau). [Read more…]

Oak Ridge, AC added to state blight elimination program; loans of up to $25K per home

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TDHA Perrey Oak Ridge Gooch Blight Elimination Program July 11 2016

Oak Ridge and Anderson County have been added to a state blight elimination program that could allow the city to accelerate its efforts to remove blighted and abandoned homes and replace them with new affordable housing, or possibly green space. Ralph Perrey, left, executive director of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, makes the announcement in Oak Ridge on Monday, July 11, 2016. Also pictured is Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge and Anderson County have been added to a state blight elimination program that could allow the city to accelerate its efforts to remove blighted and abandoned homes and replace them with new affordable housing, or possibly green space. Loans of up to $25,000 per home are available.

The Blight Elimination Program allows qualified nonprofits and land banks, like the one in Oak Ridge, to apply for loans of up to $25,000 to acquire blighted, abandoned homes, demolish them, turn the property into green space, and maintain the vacant lots. The “greened” lots can then be turned into new affordable housing or converted into other uses meant to stabilize neighborhoods, with the uses approved by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.

The $25,000 per demolition will be fronted by the THDA. The work could start with the Oak Ridge Land Bank Corporation, THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey said during a Monday afternoon press conference in Oak Ridge. The press conference also included Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, and Katie Moore, East Tennessee THDA representative.

The Blight Elimination Program has $10 million in funding available in Tennessee on a first-come, first-served basis. Much of it is likely to be used in Memphis in Shelby County, one of six other counties previously approved for the Blight Elimination Program, Perrey said.

But Memphis isn’t the only place that needs help, he said.

“I think a fair amount of that can be put to work here,” Perrey said in Oak Ridge on Monday. [Read more…]

State grant of more than $900,000 to be used for Turnpike sidewalks

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A state grant of more than $900,000 will be used to complete sidewalks along the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike from Illinois Avenue to Fairbanks Road, including along this stretch of roadway between Lafayette Drive and Division Road, pictured on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:45 a.m. July 7.

Oak Ridge has received a state transportation grant of more than $900,000, and it will be used to complete sidewalks along the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike between Illinois Avenue and Fairbanks Road, officials said Wednesday.

The $927,021.40 Multimodal Access Grant is from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

It’s one of 14 grants worth a total of about $10.3 million awarded this year, according to information from TDOT. Other cities receiving grants in the Knoxville area were Lenoir City—$899,394.30 for an SR2/Broadway Multimodal Access Project—and Gatlinburg—$396,036 for US 321 Safety Upgrades and Trolley Stop.

In Oak Ridge, the grant will be used to help build a continuous sidewalk on the south side of the Turnpike from Illinois to Fairbanks.

The current standard requires sidewalks in front of new buildings when they face the Turnpike. So, there are short stretches of new sidewalks in front of The Donut Palace and Zaxby’s restaurant, both relatively new businesses, interspersed with sections of no sidewalks in front of Martin Funeral Home and First Presbyterian Church between Lafayette Drive and Division Road. [Read more…]

Letter: Pleased to announce sale of Oak Ridge City Center to RealtyLink

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To the Editor:

We are pleased to announce the sale of Oak Ridge City Center to RealtyLink. This is the moment that everyone has been waiting for, and finally, the transition of the Oak Ridge City Center Mall will begin. RealtyLink is a great company and will be a fantastic partner with Oak Ridge throughout the process.

As sellers, we want to extend our greatest appreciation to the leadership of Oak Ridge and to the citizens of Oak Ridge for your patience and commitment to helping realize the highest potential of this important property.

This could not have happened without the vision and tireless efforts of Mayor Warren Gooch and the elected officials; Mark Watson, Kathryn Baldwin, and the city staff; Parker Hardy, Chamber of Commerce; and the behind-the-scenes efforts of Ray Evans. We have all been at this a long time, and without everyone’s support, this important day for Oak Ridge would not have been possible. [Read more…]

Main Street Oak Ridge update: City staff ready for mall redevelopment

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Workers from Masstar Signs of Greenville, S.C., install a new shopping center pylon sign at South Illinois Avenue and East Tulsa Road that announces Main Street Oak Ridge, the planned $80 million redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. Pictured above on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, is Will Biggs of Masstar Signs. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Site plans have been approved for the first phase of Main Street Oak Ridge—the project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall—and construction drawings have been approved for most buildings in Phase I, a city official said Thursday.

The city staff is ready to issue demolition permits, and the staff has a utility disconnect “game plan,” said Kathryn Baldwin, director of Oak Ridge Community Development.

“We’re very much ready,” Baldwin said at a Thursday evening work session of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission will consider adding a lot to the subdivision plat for the roughly 60-acre site on Thursday. If approved, that change would create 11 interior lots. Officials said that requested change has to do with project financing and it’s a minor change from what was approved several months ago. [Read more…]

New stores at Main Street Oak Ridge appear unlikely by Christmas 2016

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Main-Street-Oak-Ridge-Sign-Dec-21-2015

Workers from Masstar Signs of Greenville, S.C., install a new shopping center pylon sign at South Illinois Avenue and East Tulsa Road announcing Main Street Oak Ridge, the planned $80 million redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. Pictured above on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, is Will Biggs of Masstar Signs. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The developers haven’t confirmed it yet, but the construction of new stores at the former Oak Ridge Mall appears unlikely to be complete by the Christmas 2016 shopping season.

In November, RealtyLink said demolition at the 58-acre site could take four months and be complete by the end of this March or early next month, with construction possibly starting April 1.

RealtyLink had planned to turn over seven new stores to retailers in September 2016, and it was expected that they could open in October, in time for the holiday season.

But demolition has not started yet at the former mall property, now known as Main Street Oak Ridge.

Ray Evans, Oak Ridge retail consultant, said the opening before Christmas was predicated on demolition and construction starting in January 2016.

“For a variety of reasons, that couldn’t happen,” Evans said. [Read more…]

City receives $433K grant for traffic signal, pedestrian improvements at two intersections

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A $433,000 grant awarded to the City of Oak Ridge would be used to make traffic signal and pedestrian improvements at two intersections on Oak Ridge Turnpike, including at South Tulane Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge has received a $433,000 grant for improvements at two intersections on Oak Ridge Turnpike, one at South Tulane Avenue and the other at East Division Road/Tennyson Road. The improvements, which require a 20 percent local match of roughly $108,000, will include marked crosswalks, ramps, and upgrades to help pedestrians.

The project will include traffic signal and pedestrian feature upgrades at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Tulane Avenue, between the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce and Oak Ridge Municipal Building. The upgrades will include the addition of handicap ramps, crosswalks, countdown pedestrian signals with push buttons, and radar vehicle detection, Oak Ridge Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin said in a December 1 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. A traffic signal pole will be relocated to avoid conflicts with overhead utilities.

Improvements at East Division Road/Tennyson Road, near Methodist Medical Center, will include the addition of handicap ramps, crosswalks, and countdown pedestrian signals with push buttons and radar vehicle detection. Sidewalks could be added where there are gaps or where new handicap ramps are disconnected from existing sidewalks, Baldwin said. [Read more…]

Land Bank ‘ahead of curve’ in repairing, redeveloping blighted homes

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Matt Widner and Charlie Jernigan Nov. 6, 2015

Matt Widner, Oak Ridge Community Development housing specialist, left, and Charlie Jernigan, board chair for the Oak Ridge Land Bank Corp., are pictured above during a housing work session on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A two-year-old effort to repair or redevelop blighted and abandoned homes in Oak Ridge is making above-average progress, an official said in November.

The Oak Ridge Land Bank Corporation, the first of its kind in Tennessee, has sold two homes and donated two and has more listed, board chair Charlie Jernigan said.

Other land banks around the country haven’t had any sales until their third year.

“We’re ahead of that curve,” Jernigan said after a November 6 work session on housing at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, the second this year. [Read more…]

City officials meet with NPS, DOE, other communities to discuss Manhattan Project park

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Chuck Hope

Chuck Hope

A delegation from the City of Oak Ridge recently traveled to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to participate in a meeting with officials from the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Energy, and from Los Alamos and the Hanford communities to discuss the newly designated Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The meeting was sponsored by the Energy Communities Alliance, or ECA, which supported attendance at the meeting with travel grants to the participants.

The three-day event, with more than 50 in attendance, began with a tour of the cultural resources and Manhattan Project era sites at Los Alamos National Laboratory. David Klaus, deputy under secretary of management and performance with DOE, was the keynote speaker. He emphasized the importance of preserving the history of the Manhattan Project, and pointed to the important scientific and technological advancements that originated from that era.

Victor Knox, associate director for park planning, facilities, and lands for the National Park Service, then briefed attendees on the status of a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, currently under development by DOE and NPS. The draft MOA, which has been released for public comment, will govern the respective roles of the secretary of interior and secretary of energy in administering the park and its facilities. Completion of the MOA is the first major milestone required by the enacting legislation, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last December. [Read more…]

Frustration increases, Council not pleased as Jackson Square work stretches into fall

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Jackson Square Parking Lot Meeting

Oak Ridge municipal staff members and Mayor Warren Gooch met with Jackson Square merchants at Razzleberry’s Ice Cream Lab and Kitchen on Wednesday, July 29, to discuss the $1 million parking lot renovation, which is not yet finished but could be “substantially complete” by Sept. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

One merchant said he’s lost more than $100,000 in sales. Another said she had to close her business. And a third has posted signs that express frustration with the pace of construction at Jackson Square.

At one time, there was hope that the $1 million parking lot renovation at Jackson Square would be complete by the Lavender Festival in mid-June. But that didn’t happen. Now, the latest construction schedule estimates that it will be “substantially complete” by September 15—in time for Taste of Anderson County—but not finished until the end of October.

Officials have said the primary delay has been with the interactive fountain that will be installed in the center of Jackson Square. It still hasn’t arrived, and officials have said it could take four weeks to install. On Monday, the contractor and her attorney said the fountain could arrive in Oak Ridge on Wednesday.

Even business owners who had an optimistic outlook earlier have lost their patience with the project, which is mostly funded with a state grant. Their primary frustrations: The work has taken much longer than expected, the schedule keeps getting extended, and there have been too many days when, they say, they’ve seen no signs of work. In the meantime, the parking lot in front of their stores was closed for months, and they believe that the construction fencing and orange barrels drove away some potential customers.

“Why can’t they finish this?” asked Jonathan Goldstein of The String Workshop.

“We’ve been nice long enough,” said Dean Russell, owner of Dean’s Restaurant and Bakery.

“I think our frustration is how many days we’ve seen nothing happening as our customer base declines,” said Steve Seivers, who has a law practice in the square, the city’s original town center.

On Monday, the Oak Ridge City Council joined the chorus of frustration. [Read more…]

Demolition permit applied for at Main Street Oak Ridge, site plan approved

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Main Street Oak Ridge Site Plan Work Session

Barry James, Crosland Southeast senior vice president, standing, explains part of the Main Street Oak Ridge site plan to the Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, August 6, 2015. Seated from left are planning commissioners Terry Domm, Jane Shelton, Claudia Lever, and Charlie Hensley. At left in the background is Steve Arnsdorff, chief manager of Oak Ridge City Center LLC, the current owner of the property, the former Oak Ridge Mall. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:10 p.m.

The demolition permit has been applied for and the site plan approved, two crucial steps in the proposal to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall as Main Street Oak Ridge, a 60-acre site that could include retailers, restaurants, residential units, and a hotel.

Developers applied for the demolition permit last week, Oak Ridge Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin said Thursday. It will now be reviewed by the city staff. The demolition could include the existing space between the two remaining anchors, Belk and JCPenney, although those two stores would remain.

The site plan is for the construction of the first phase “building footprints” and the infrastructure to serve them, Baldwin said. Construction drawings for the buildings themselves will come later.

The site plan for the core retail area was approved unanimously by the 10-member Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday evening. It incorporated comments by the city staff. It does not require approval by the Oak Ridge City Council. [Read more…]

Today’s Planning Commission meeting on Main Street Oak Ridge to be rescheduled

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There will not be an Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission work session on Main Street Oak Ridge today (Thursday, July 9).

The city staff said the meeting will be rescheduled to a date to be determined later in July.

Main Street Oak Ridge is the $80 million, 60-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]