The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board (IDB) signed an agreement with the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership on Friday hiring the Partnership to oversee daily Board operations and recruit industrial prospects to the city. According to the agreement, the two entities will “work together to enhance industrial development for the city of Oak Ridge.”

David Wilson, Chairman of the IDB said, “The benefit of formalizing an agreement between the IDB and the Economic Partnership is that it will provide a ‘one-stop’ resource for individuals and enterprises considering locating a busines in Oak Ridge.”

David Bradshaw, Chairman of the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership stated, “This formal partnership between the Economic Partnership and the IDB is a natural progression. The two entities have worked together in the past and this contract will allow them to now work more closely in concert with one another. It should benefit all parties. The Oak Ridge Economic Partnership will now serve as chief marketer and point of contact with prospects for all IDB-owned properties, including Horizon Center industrial park.”

Also inked on Friday was an agreement between the IDB and Horizon Center,LLC, a subsidiary of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, to transfer the Horizon Center business park to the IDB. The property transfer further supports the “one-stop shop” for economic development, since Horizon Center is the largest tract of industrial property in Oak Ridge.

Lawrence Young, Chief Manager of Horizon Center, LLC, and an Economic Partnership board member said, “The Partnership-IDB alliance and Horizon Center property transfer go hand in hand and just seem to make sense to help set up our marketing and recruiting efforts

The development of the third and final phase of improvements to the Oak Ridge Turnpike is well underway. Heavy equipment seems to be everywhere one looks as mountains of soil is redistributed, hundreds of tons of rock are laid and leveled and a ribbon of 5 lane highway begins to take shape. The highway which, when completed in 2011, will connect Interstates 40 and 75 and is the frontage highway of the Heritage Center and Horizon Center creating a direct, speedy link between the parks and the Interstates just 4 miles away. As part of the highway project, significant infrastructure modifications and improvements are being undertaken by the City of Oak Ridge. A $500,000 contribution from CROET to the City of Oak Ridge provided late last year is being used to connect the City’s existing water system to the system in the Horizon Center. Connection of the systems will permit the City to provide water from its main plant to new residential developments in the “West End”, as well as to the Heritage and Horizon Center Business districts.

OAK RIDGE - With the inking of two pacts, the city’s independent industrial development board has taken over the city’s biggest chunk of industrial land and created what officials calls a “one-stop-shop” for industrial recruiting.

One agreemend signed Friday gives the IDB title to the 392-acre Horizon Center Business Park. The other accord hires the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership&mdasha branch of the city’s Chamber of Commerce—to oversee IDB operations and recruit industrial prospects.

“The Partnership-IDB alliance and Horizon Center property transfer go hand in hand and just seem to make sense to help ste up our marketing and recruiting efforts for industrial development,” said Lawrence Young. president of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, which conveyed the industrial park to the IDB.

Young also a member of the Economic Partnership board of directors. Under that land transfer, CROET will receive $9500 an acre for any Horizon Center land that’s sold in the future, and the IDB would pocket any profits to be used for future industrial development. In the linkup with the Economic Partnerhip, the IDB will pay the partnership $1,000 a month for its services, and partnership president Kim Denton will oversee the board’s daily business.

Officials said the two agreements should speed industrial recruiting and the sale o fland in Hrizon Center.

That industrial park in west Oak Ridge was developed several years ago with more than $11 million in Department of Energy funds.

Only one small firm has located there.

The IDB now has nearly $600,000 in its coffers that it has received from various fees.

OAK RIDGE - Flush with cash the city‘s industrial development board bas launched steps to land new businesses and industries.

“We now have the wherewithal to grow Oak Ridge in a variety of directions,” longtime board member andnew Chairman David Wilson said during Monday’s meeting. “This. allows the board to do some things it’s never been able to do inthe past.’

In less than a year, the board has:

Helped build a 50,000square- foot speculative industrial building to lure new manufacturers.
Entered an agreement to assume ownership of the 392-acre Horizon Center Industrial Park
Seen its coffers swell to nearly $600,000 from fees linked to granting tax breaks to new businesses.
Board members took another step Monday. voting to hire the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership to market properties in the city and seek new industries.

The partnership is the industrial recruiting arm of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

Under the agreement, Economic Partnership President Kim Denton will oversee dailyboard operations and hunt for prospects.

The partnership will be paid $1,000 a month for its services and be eligible for a bonus should it succeed.

The agreement would dissolve if the partnership doesn’t sell a five-acre industrial tract at a minimum for af least $12,OOO an acre by the end of June 2012.

“We intend for the board to be in the loop for everything that goes on,” Wilson said. He said aggressive recruiting is a response to the city’s “dire need” for business and industrial growth.

The board last month voted to take title of Horizon Center from a subsidiary of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee.

Under that agreement, CROET would be paid $9,SOO an acre from any, Horizon Center land sales. Any profits reaped by the board would plowed back into it’s industrial development efforts.

The board’s bank account increased recently with a $192,241 fee paid by Centennial Village Apartments LLC, members were told

That’s the amount developer John Chilton paid the board after it granted a 20-year, 50 percent property tax break on his $25 million project.

Construction of apartments on Centennial Village property off Edgemoor Road will begin this week ans should be finished in 13 months, Clinton told members.