Developers propose 400-apartment, mixed-use, walkable neighborhood near OR museum
A developer is looking to build apartments on this land along Wilson Street in Oak Ridge. The Wilson Street property is adjacent to the former Oak Ridge Mall location and is currently owned by Oak Ridge Land Bank. (photo:Ben Pounds )
The area is 6.5 acres along Oak Ridge’s Wilson Street, adjacent to the former Oak Ridge Mall and the current Main Street Oak Ridge strip mall site. The Oak Ridge Land Bank, which owns the land, approved a letter of intent by the two companies M&P Land and LME LLC on Jan. 21. While it’s not a sale agreement yet, the agreement includes some details on the development. The developers plan to purchase it for $2 million.
Tim Elliott, JME’s director of economic development told The Courier News the Land Bank will likely sell the land in the next few months. He said it will take three to five years to build the three new buildings.
Wayne Blasius said in a later Februaryemail that there was a 90-day time frame to turn the letter of intent into a purchase and sales agreement, but it wasn’t sold yet as of Tuesday, Feb. 18.
“I know they’re working hard on it,” Blasius said, adding he was “cautiously optimistic” that the city would get the kind of “walkable urban downtown development that the city has wanted for generations.”
Elliot said the development will include three mixed use buildings with retail on the first floor and 400 apartments on upper stories. He said he was not certain of the price of rent, but it may be similar to rent at the nearby Main Street Lofts development. The Wilson Street development will focus on sidewalks and pedestrian centered developments like sidewalk cafes.
“I call it the art of the stroll,” Elliott said.
“We work with cities to rejuvenate and propel downtown activity,” he said of his company. He said people around the turn of the 20th century designed many cities with a pedestrian-friendly grid which he aims to recreate in Oak Ridge. He said Oak Ridge lacks that kind of development because the government designed Oak Ridge for people in cars and military vehicles to drive.
