Oak Ridge Today

County officials to ask for one-year extension on expiring courthouse lease

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Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Roger Miller

First elected in August, Judge Roger Miller, left, is pictured in Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, in Oak Ridge before a bond hearing this summer. (2015 file photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today) 

 

CLINTON—Anderson County officials could ask for a one-year extension of the lease on the General Sessions Court, Division II, in Oak Ridge. The current lease expires at the end of the year, on December 31.

The county has an option to renew the lease for five years from January 1, 2016, through the end of 2021, but it’s not clear if officials want to do that. There are questions about whether they want to keep a courthouse in Oak Ridge, particularly if the City of Oak Ridge is not providing financial support. But if Division II court does stay in Oak Ridge, there is a question about whether it should remain at the current location at the former Oak Ridge Utility District building on Bus Terminal Road.

Officials have limited time, about 80 days, to weigh the alternatives before the lease expires, and there are holidays in the meantime, said Anderson County Commissioner Mark Alderson, who made a motion to seek a one-year lease extension during an Operations Committee meeting on Monday. The committee unanimously approved that proposal on a voice vote. [Read more…]

AC Operations Committee to consider senior center lease

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Operations Committee will meet at 6 p.m. today (Monday, June 8) with a full agenda, including consideration of a five-year lease on a building at 439 South Charles Seivers Boulevard for use as an Anderson County Senior Center.

The cost of the $1,896-a-month lease would primarily be paid for out of the budget of the Anderson County Office on Aging, with some county assistance possible. But the remainder of the cost is expected to be paid for through donations.

Seniors and supporters of a senior center will rally before the meeting and then head upstairs to further demonstrate that support to committee members.

The Operations Committee will meet in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. See the agenda here.

Main Street Oak Ridge signs first anchor lease, other leases could follow

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Main Street Oak Ridge

Main Street Oak Ridge would redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall as a mixed-use project that could include retailers, restaurants, residential units, and possibly a hotel. The existing space between the two remaining anchors, Belk and JCPenney, would be demolished, although those two stores would remain.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:15 a.m. March 27.

The developers who want to convert the former Oak Ridge Mall into Main Street Oak Ridge signed their first anchor store lease last week, an executive said Thursday.

And three to five more leases could be signed in the next month or so, said Tim Sittema of Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has proposed the roughly 60-acre redevelopment.

Main Street Oak Ridge would redevelop the mall as a mixed-use project that would include retailers, restaurants, residential units, and possibly a hotel. The existing space between the two remaining anchors, Belk and JCPenney, would be demolished, although those two stores would remain. [Read more…]

Council to discuss postponed stoplight at ORHS, Senior Center lease extension

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Oak Ridge Turnpike and High School Stoplight

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday will discuss the proposed traffic signal on Oak Ridge Turnpike at the High School and a proposal to extend the lease on the Senior Center for five years through 2019.

Those are two of the agenda items for a Tuesday evening work session.

The City Council postponed a vote last week on a contract to install a stoplight on the Oak Ridge Turnpike in front of Oak Ridge High School. The light could eliminate the need for a crossing guard.

City officials had said the light could be installed by August 2015, but the postponement of the contract vote to the April meeting will likely delay the completion date, possibly until after school starts later this year. [Read more…]

Council, School Board to discuss Preschool, Administration Building today

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Oak Ridge Preschool and School Administration Building

Oak Ridge school officials have previously considered four options to replace or renovated the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool and Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building on New York Avenue. Officials say the building needs to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year.

 

The Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education have a joint meeting this evening (Thursday, January 15) to discuss the Preschool and School Administration Building, a 70-year-old building that officials have been hoping to replace for years.

In December, the City Council and BOE toured a building on Mitchell Road that could be a new home for the Preschool. It’s one of several proposed options that have been recently discussed. Others include repairing the existing building on New York Avenue or building a new facility. Officials have largely ruled out splitting up the Preschool and hosting students in classrooms at the city’s elementary schools.

Education officials say the Preschool has to be renovated or vacated by next year in order for the school system to continue to receive federal Head Start funding. [Read more…]

Traffic Safety, Environmental Advisory board member running for City Council

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Aditya "Doc" Savara

Aditya “Doc” Savara

Aditya “Doc” Savara, a member of two city boards, is running for Oak Ridge City Council in the November 4 municipal election.

In a press release, Savara said he has been involved in local politics during the past two years and served on the Traffic Safety Advisory Board and the Environmental Quality Advisory Board. Savara said he has attended and commented during public comment periods at City Council meetings, is knowledgeable about the issues facing the city, and has been vocal about them.

“In 2012-2013, an ordinance came before Oak Ridge City Council regarding whether property owners Jack and Myra Mansfield could build a single home on their property in a neighborhood zoned as R1, for single-family dwellings,” Savara said in the release. “Adjacent homeowners asserted property values would drop if the Mansfields were allowed to build a home on the open space. I pointed out that the neighbors could have bought the open property themselves if they wanted to keep it as open space. I stated that the neighbors didn’t want to buy the cow, but wanted to have the milk for free, and that it was not too late for the neighbors to make the Mansfields a fair offer. [Read more…]

Food Lion in Oak Ridge could close by June 20

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Food Lion

The Food Lion grocery store on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge could close by June 20, a spokesperson said Thursday.

 

The Food Lion grocery store on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge could close by June 20 because the company is not renewing its lease on the property, a spokesperson said.

Store employees were notified of the decision on Thursday, said Christy Phillips-Brown, a corporate spokesperson for Food Lion.

She did not know the precise number of employees at the Oak Ridge store, but she said there are, on average, about 40 associates at each store. [Read more…]

Guest column: The New China Palace—historic restaurant in Oak Ridge

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New China Palace Restaurant Interior

The interior of the New China Palace restaurant on Central Avenue is pictured above.

The New China Palace was established in September 1973 by Chuang Nan Chou and served authentic Chinese, Mandarin-Peking Hunan, and Szechuan style food.

Over the years, it became well-known in the Oak Ridge and Knoxville area and to many customers from other countries who came to Oak Ridge to visit the government facilities of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, the K-25 plant, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities. A large customer base developed, and the restaurant prospered.

In 2010, the City of Oak Ridge delivered a letter to the New China Palace saying their lease for the city building at the Oak Ridge Marina would not be renewed. Ideas for developing a facility for rowing and a “casual restaurant” were mentioned as the reason for this sudden change of heart by their landlord. This was announced in the newspapers and caused a huge negative reaction by their customers. [Read more…]

Nonprofit lease termination could leave vacant space in central Oak Ridge

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Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic building

Oak Ridge officials have been asked to terminate the 50-year lease on the former Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic building on Badger Road, which would leave vacant space in central Oak Ridge. City officials haven’t decided what to do with the building.

A decision to terminate a 50-year lease agreement on a building once used by a national nonprofit organization to record audiobooks for the dyslexic and visually impaired could open up some office space in central Oak Ridge.

But city officials said they haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

Now partially empty, the split-level two-story building on Badger Road was once home to Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. Located on the south side of Alvin K. Bissell Park, it still houses the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, which includes the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Oak Ridge Chorus. [Read more…]

New China Palace still open on waterfront, moving to Central Avenue this summer

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New China Palace Restaurant

The New China Palace on Melton Lake Drive has been granted a three-month lease extension, and the restaurant will be open on the city’s waterfront through May. The restaurant plans to re-open on Central Avenue by July.

The New China Palace restaurant will be open on the Oak Ridge waterfront through May, and the new owner plans to open in a new place on Central Avenue by July.

In a letter last June, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told the restaurant’s former owners Chung-Nan Chou and Fu-Li Chou that the city would not renew the lease when it expired in February.

But the new owner Cheng Ping Ren said the city gave the restaurant a three-month lease extension on the waterfront site on Melton Lake Drive. It expires May 31. [Read more…]

Answer Financial move has significant impact, new tenant possible

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Answer Financial Oak Ridge

Answer Financial Inc. is relocating from this building on Union Valley Road to Bridgewater Road in West Knoxville.

Answer Financial’s decision to relocate its local sales center to Knoxville, taking several hundred jobs, will have a significant impact on Oak Ridge, but another tenant could be interested in moving into the office building on Union Valley Road, business leaders said.

One of the largest auto and home insurance agencies in the United States, Answer Financial broke ground on its new 32,775-square-foot facility on Bridgewater Road in Knoxville last week. It could be open by early fall and serve as the company’s primary sales center. It will be able to house more than 400 employees, including more than 100 new employees the company plans to hire in the next two years.

Estimates of the jobs lost in Oak Ridge ranged from about 200 to 300, and officials said Answer Financial workers earned $40,000 to $50,000 or more.

[Read more…]