Oak Ridge Today

Mall redevelopment could cost $80 million, create close to 1,000 jobs

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Oak Ridge Mall Master Plan

The site plan for the redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall shows a multi-use, town center development with retail, office, hotel, and residential properties. (Submitted image)

The project could include retail, hotel, office, and residential properties, and generate more than $2 million per year in new city and county sales tax revenues, consultant says

Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m.

The North Carolina company that wants to redevelop the Oak Ridge Mall has unveiled its site plan for the 60-acre property.

The $80 million redevelopment could include new retail, hotel, office, and residential properties. It would create almost 1,000 new jobs and increase annual city and county sales tax revenues by more than $2 million, according to an estimate by a city consultant.

The two remaining anchor stores at the 500,000-square-foot mall, JCPenney and Belk, would stay. So would Walmart and the Cinemark Tinseltown theater.

Meanwhile, the existing interior space between the anchor stores would be demolished. Previous mall redevelopment plans had also called for demolishing that interior retail space. [Read more…]

Woman struck by car in Clinton parking lot

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton woman was injured Wednesday night when she was struck by a car while leaving Walmart.

The Clinton Police Department reported that 42-year-old Stephanie Meadows told them that she had walked out of the middle section of doors at the front entrance of Walmart and was almost across the road in the pedestrian crosswalk when she was hit by a white Volvo sedan. She was hit on her left side and was knocked across the hood and on to the asphalt. [Read more…]

Car crashes into utility pole, knocks out power to few stores

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Lafayette Drive Utility Pole Crash

A car driven by an Oak Ridge man crashed into a utility pole near Lafayette Drive on Saturday, knocking out power to about 10 customers, including Walmart and Chick-fil-A. (Photos by Tom Scott)

A car crashed into a utility pole along Lafayette Drive on Saturday afternoon, knocking out power to a few large customers, including Walmart and Chick-fil-A.

Jeffrey Wells Wallace, 60, of Oak Ridge, was eastbound in a 2010 Toyota Prius four-door sedan on Lafayette Drive near Midway Lane when his vehicle went off the roadway and struck a utility pole about six feet off the road at about 2:45 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Wallace was conscious was police arrived, but he said he didn’t remember the collision, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Brandan L. Sharp said in a crash report. [Read more…]

Four arrested after alleged theft of more than $3,000 at Walmart

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Information from WYSH Radio

Four people were arrested and charged Wednesday in connection to the theft of more than 600 items from the Clinton Walmart.

Knoxville Police called the Clinton Police Department and informed them that there had been a theft at the Walmart in Clinton and that four suspects had been detained in Knoxville in connection to thefts at several area Walmarts, including the one in Clinton.

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Oliver Springs man accused of striking child at Walmart

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An Oliver Springs man charged with aggravated child abuse is accused of hitting a 14-month-old boy at Walmart in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, arrest warrants said.

A witness said she saw David Lambert, 61, hit the child several times in the face with his fingers in what “she called a downward reverse motion,” the warrants said.

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Firefighters extinguish engine fire in Walmart parking lot

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Firefighters extinguished an engine fire in the Walmart parking lot on Wednesday afternoon, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said.

Firefighters responded to the fire at about 3:06 p.m. Wednesday. They reported a red Dodge pickup had flames coming from the engine compartment when they arrived.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, and the vehicle, which had been driven by Jerald Miller, was towed from the parking lot.

WYSH: Black Friday meets road rage

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Information from WYSH Radio in Clinton

The desire to find a deal on a gift for his grandson early on Black Friday landed a Clinton man in jail.

According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, 62-year-old Jerry Leon Poe allegedly fired a pistol at a woman driving in front of him on Oak Ridge Highway shortly before 5 a.m. Friday to, as he put it to deputies, “scare her into moving.”

[Read more…]