Oak Ridge Today

City manager offers economic optimism, says mall needs to move quickly

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Mark Watson State of the City

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, talks to Kay Brookshire and Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan.

Note: This story was updated at 9:50 a.m. Oct. 4.

With a boom in economic activity that includes billions of dollars worth of projects, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark S. Watson offered a dose of optimism about the city’s economic future on Tuesday, and he suggested commercial developments won’t be held up by the owners of the “inactive” Oak Ridge Mall or property owners who set sale prices too high.

Five retailers that might have wanted to locate at the mall are now talking to the developers of a $30 million Kroger Marketplace shopping center planned at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, Watson said. He said the city and commercial developers are “going right on around” the privately owned, mostly empty mall, where redevelopment plans have languished for years.

“They’re starting to lose customers,” Watson said during an hour-long lunchtime speech to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. “They’re going to be left holding the bag if they don’t start moving—and moving quickly.”

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Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalists agree to sell for Kroger development

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Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

The congregation of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to sell their building and 3.6 acres to the developers of a new Kroger shopping center.

Note: This story was last updated at 11:01 a.m. Oct. 1.

It was a difficult decision for many, but members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to sell their building and 3.6 acres to make way for a new Kroger development that could open in 2014.

There were 169 votes in favor of selling and 12 opposed. The vote to sell required a two-thirds majority, or 120 votes.

The sale price for the heavily used property—a serene, wooded tract in the heart of Oak Ridge—has not been publicly disclosed.

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Unitarian Universalist Church votes on whether to sell today

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Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

Members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church are scheduled to vote at 11:45 a.m. today on whether to sell their property to make way for a commercial development anchored by a Kroger Marketplace at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

The church, also used for many community functions such as League of Women Voters events and Rotary Club meetings, is located on 3.6 acres just east of that intersection. The land could become part of the $30 million, 22-acre Kroger development’s outparcel space.

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Kroger Marketplace to anchor shopping center at Illinois, Turnpike

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Kroger Marketplace Site Plan

Kroger Marketplace Site Plan

Note: This story was last updated at 12:09 p.m.

A Kroger Marketplace store could be the primary tenant at a new $30 million shopping center on the northeast corner of the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

The new 113,000-square-foot store could open in the spring of 2014, according to a Thursday morning press release from the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

The announcement ends months of community speculation about what was being proposed at the busy intersection.

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