OR Mall redevelopment plans unveiled

(Information from Oak Ridge Today/staff reports) The North Carolina-based company that wants to redevelop the Oak Ridge Mall unveiled its site plan today (9/25) for the 60-acre property.  The $80 million project could include new retail, hotel, office, and residential properties andcould create almost 1,000 new jobs while boosting 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 mall, JCPenney and Belk, would stay. So would Tinseltown Theater and Walmart.  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.  The private investment in the project would be about $80 million.  Officials expect that the developers will ask for approximately $10 million in Tax Increment Financing—or TIF—to help pay for some of the infrastructure work for the project.  “Our vision for this redevelopment effort is to construct a ‘new downtown’ for Oak Ridge that will restore a sense of community and has the potential to make a positive impact on the region as a whole,” said officials with Crosland Southeast.  The introduction of new retailers and restaurants, offices, residences, and public spaces would differentiate the mall project from all others in the area, thus “catering to a broader constituency,” according to officials.

Crosland SouthEast Master Plan of the Oak Ridge Mall.