Oak Ridge Today

Council to discuss electronic signs, land banks, mall partnership

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Rivers Total Car Care Electronic Sign

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss proposed changes to the city’s electronic sign ordinance during a Monday evening work session. Pictured above is Toney Stevens of Rivers Total Car Care, who has participated in the discussion.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will discuss a proposed ordinance that would prohibit animated video and scrolling messages on electronic signs.

Council will also discuss economic development options related to a public-private partnership on Oak Ridge Mall properties, and commercial and industrial areas of the city.

During a non-voting work session Monday night, Council will also hear a presentation on land bank legislation. The work session starts at 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane. [Read more…]

Guest column: Chamber believes Oak Ridge retail scene about to improve

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Working the retail scene

As you read this, a team of representatives from Oak Ridge is returning home from Las Vegas, Nev., where we attended the International Council of Shopping Centers annual ReCon convention. The convention is the largest gathering of representatives of national retailers and restaurants in the world.

Our team walked an average of about nine miles per day making sure we visited as many representatives as possible during our time here. We also exhibited in a pavilion that is set up specifically for cities around the nation. Several Tennessee communities were represented there. While there, we had 20 face-to-face meetings with representatives of national retailers and restaurants as well as representatives of Kroger Real Estate and Crosland Southeast, the company contracted to purchase the Oak Ridge City Center. [Read more…]

North Carolina company signs purchase contract on Oak Ridge Mall

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Oak Ridge Mall

An aerial view of the Oak Ridge Mall, which has been renamed the Oak Ridge City Center and is pictured at center in the photo above.

A North Carolina company has signed a contract to purchase the Oak Ridge Mall.

Crosland Southeast, a development and investment company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., signed a contract in late January to buy the mostly empty mall from Oak Ridge City Center LLC, according to a Wednesday morning press release from the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

“We feel the Oak Ridge market is under-served in terms of retail and feel very positive about the retailers we believe we can bring to this new center,” Crosland Southeast partner Tim Sittema said in a Wednesday morning press release from the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

A sale price for the roughly 60-acre site in the heart of Oak Ridge has not yet been disclosed, but it would become public after the deal closes.

“In my book, this is one of the most exciting days I’ve had here in a decade at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce,” said Parker Hardy, president of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. “This is a big deal.”

[Read more…]

Pumpkin Fest, regatta, car show this weekend

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From a regatta and football to a car show and pumpkin festival, there is much to do in Oak Ridge this weekend.

Tonight, the Oak Ridge Wildcats football team wraps up its regular season with a 7:30 p.m. game at Campbell County.

On Saturday, the Secret City Head Race starts at 8 a.m. at the Oak Ridge Marina, and the annual Pumpkin Fest starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. in Grove Center.

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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 mall owner focuses on one buyer, no sale date announced

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Oak Ridge City Center

The Oak Ridge City Center, pictured at center above, is for sale and the owners say they are working with potential buyers, although no sale date has been set.

Local officials have announced a few different timelines and deadlines for the redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall since April, but the company that owns the property last week declined to set a specific sale deadline.

“We are working diligently with buyers, and there will be an announcement forthcoming,” said Steve Arnsdorff, chief manager of Oak Ridge City Center LLC, which owns the mall.

Mall owners are focused on one buyer, Arnsdorff said during an interview last week.

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Oak Ridge Mall redevelopment could require public money

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Oak Ridge City Center

The Oak Ridge Mall is for sale for $10.5 million, and city officials say redeveloping it will likely require the use of new property tax revenues to help pay for public infrastructure improvements.

Voters said “no” the last time they were asked to consider whether to invest public money into a massive redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall.

This time, they might not have a choice.

Potential developers are likely to ask for public money to help pay for infrastructure improvements ranging from rerouted roadways and new traffic lights to building upgrades and property demolition, city officials said Monday.

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Oak Ridge Mall could have new owners within six months

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A sign announces retail space is available at the Oak Ridge City Center, a mall that is for sale for $10.5 million in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Most of the Oak Ridge City Center, also known as the Oak Ridge Mall, has been empty for years, and now the roughly 60-acre shopping center is for sale for $10.5 million.

The mostly empty Oak Ridge City Center could have new owners within about six months, a local economic development leader said Monday.

Also known as the Oak Ridge Mall, the roughly 60-acre City Center is for sale for $10.5 million, said Parker Hardy, president and chief executive officer of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

Sears is closing its store at the mall, meaning only two stores remain: Belk and JCPenney.

Hardy gave an update on the mall sale during an Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board meeting Monday.

He said the 500,000-square-foot mall will likely be on the market for about eight weeks, followed by a four-week due diligence period and a four-week closing period.

[Read more…]