October 27 – Congressman Zach Wamp announced that Oak Ridge will get a boost in its reindustrialization efforts to recruit new industry to the East Tennessee Technology Park’s Heritage Center. U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman approved the land transfer of the ED-5 West parcel requested by Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership and the City of Oak Ridge partnership. 

“This land transfer is a way that the federal government can reinvest in communities like Oak Ridge,” said Congressman Wamp. “By transferring unused land for private development, the Department of Energy will allow Oak Ridge partners to proactively engage companies in advanced manufacturing and other industries.” 

A development plan for Heritage Center was unveiled in September 2008 as a major site for recruiting new industry to Oak Ridge at the former K-25 uranium enrichment site. With Volkswagen Group of America’s summer announcement that it will build an automotive production facility in Chattanooga, the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board and other partners want to develop new industrial facilities in an effort to attract Volkswagen’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers. 

The first phase of the development will be the construction of a 50,000-square-foot speculative building that can be expanded to 100,000-square-feet. This will be built on a section of Heritage Center known as ED-5. There are two parcels on ED-5: East and West. The ED-5 East parcel had previously been transferred, but the ED-5 West parcel was preferred for this development project because the site more readily accommodates the 50,000 square-foot footprint and its possible expansion and the proximity of the existing infrastructure and the existing roadways. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall.