Horizon Center

Horizon Center is a 1,000-acre area in the western part of Oak Ridge that has been available for development since 1996. OR4RD recognizes the unique and valuable resource the Horizon Center is to the city in its industrial development efforts. It is our belief that the property should be developed for its maximum potential rather than be sold in an opportunistic manner. That is one reason we opposed the sale of the land to a developer in 2020-21 who wanted to build a racetrack on it. The amount of investment he proposed for the three prime parcels was significantly less than a normal industrial development would achieve. We felt the track was a sub-optimal use of the land and that better buyers could be found. We believed that true industrial occupants of the land would provide both greater taxes for the city and the county as well as a greater number of high paying, year-round jobs. We also recognized the adverse impact a track and its noise would have on nearby residents and the valuable Black Oak Ridge Conservation Easement recreation area and opposed it for those reasons as well.

The issue with the racetrack brought out another aspect of the Horizon Center, and Oak Ridge industrial development in general -- that is a lack of coordinated and aggressive marketing of the property. As a result of the actions of OR4RD and other citizen organizations, such as Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation (AFORR), the Industrial Development Board established a new committee to identify and market to appropriate industry. We are encouraged that the city has taken these steps, and look forward to supporting their efforts.

We know from previous inquiries about the Horizon Center that many prospects are looking for a spec building on the property. We also know that the power supply to the Horizon Center must be upgraded to make additional development possible. For those reasons, we continue to advocate for improvements to the Horizon Center that will make the land more suitable for ready occupancy or development.