Government Office Buildings Transferred
for private sector use at
East Tennessee Technology Park
Action Continues Transition of Federal Site to Private Industrial Park
Oak Ridge, TN. - The U.S. Department of Energy has successfully transferred ownership of four office buildings at the East Tennessee Technology Park, creating additional opportunities for private sector companies to utilize available office space at the government's former gaseous diffusion plant site.
"This is a great accomplishment for the Department of Energy's Reindustrialization Program in support of our providing underutilized assets for use by the private sector," said Gerald Boyd, DOE Oak Ridge Office Manager.
The buildings include K-1007, K-1225, K-1330, and K-1580 and total approximately 200,000 square feet. These office buildings are now under the ownership of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, a not-for-profit corporation established to foster diversification of the regional economy by re-utilizing DOE property for private sector investment and job creation.
"The Community Reuse Organization is really pleased to complete this transfer. We have been working closely with the Department of Energy and are looking forward to future transfers that will enable the site to become one of the premier industrial parks in the region," said Lawrence Young, Executive Director of the CROET.
Upon completion of environmental cleanup in 2008, the entire site will be a private sector brownfield industrial park known as Heritage Center. The facilities, which are expected to be utilized by the private sector long after cleanup of the site is complete, will help to stimulate the regional economy.
DOE is currently working on transfer of an additional six buildings. It is expected that three of these facilities will be transferred by the end of 2005, and that the remainder will be transferred in 2006.
The transfer of the four buildings allows DOE to avoid $6.4 million in demolition costs if the facilities were to be torn down. When all planned transfers are completed, a total of $70 million dollars in demolition costs will be avoided.
A formal event will be held in the near future recognizing the transfer as a significant milestone in DOE's Reindustrialization Program.
K-1007
K-1225
K-1330
K-1580