We've all heard the old joke about buying the Brooklyn Bridge. The basis of it is that only a very naive person (a sucker) would believe that the bridge is for sale -- or that the person offering it to them has the authority to sell it.

We have a similar situation here in Oak Ridge, only it's no joke. The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) is marketing publicly owned land that it has no authority over.

Parcel ED-3 is a collection of DOE-managed tracts of federal land (a total of 450 acres) near the K-25 site (see map) that CROET would like to lease (for free) in order to sublease the land for industrial and commercial development. The proposal to lease this land to CROET was one of the latest in a continuing series of piecemeal initiatives to transfer the public lands of the Oak Ridge Reservation for private development. Following complaints from AFORR and others that this practice violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), DOE agreed to withdraw the ED-3 proposal until after undertaking a comprehensive land-use planning process for the Oak Ridge Reservation with community participation.

CROET officials are participating in DOE's Land-Use Planning Focus Group, but the organization's actions suggest that they are not participating in good faith. Apparently, they see this process as nothing more than a temporary delay in their plans to control more of the Oak Ridge Ridge Reservation.

CROET is representing ED-3 as available for lease. CROET's website provides (at www.saiceemg.com/ettp/lands.html) a map of "about 600 acres of land becoming available for lease." The map makes no distinction between the land that CROET has been authorized to lease for several years and ED-3, about which DOE still has not made a decision. Parcels 5 and 6 on the map (shown below) are ED-3.

CROET has a plan and a current-year budget for marketing ED-3. The CROET Strategic Plan christens Parcel ED-3 with a fancy new name: the Gateway Center, and describes CROET's plans for selling it to developers.

Section 4.2.3 of the plan says:

The Gateway Center, also known as Parcel ED-3, is a 450-acre greenfield development. Linear in nature, the property fronts State Highway 58 and Blair Road (State Road 327). The location of this property, its topography, and its close proximity to infrastructure now being constructed by CROET as part of Horizon Center make it ideally suited for mixed use office, light industrial, and commercial development. It is an ideal complement to Horizon Center and Heritage Center, providing higher visibility office settings, commercial support facilities, and possibly smaller flex-space/light industrial sites.

The development of this property provides an opportunity to "amortize" the cost of developing infrastructure for Horizon Center across a broader property base. It also provides a significant opportunity for CROET to partner with a seasoned and successful property developer to effectuate the build out of the commercial development areas. This partnership should provide an opportunity to defray much of the development costs of the remaining properties.

Section 7.2.5 outlines marketing strategies and tactics for the "Gateway Center" in fiscal years 2001-2002:

Create awareness that additional governmental property exists that can be developed for a variety of uses, including mixed use office, light industrial and commercial development, including retail.

Fully engage the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board to highlight and utilize the "Center" as Oak Ridge's premier real estate venue for their type of occupancy.

Create a marketing brochure for Gateway Center

Target real estate consultants and piggyback on efforts underway related to marketing Horizon Center and Heritage Center.

Host real estate developers in one-on-one settings on an ongoing basis.

Bought any nice bridges lately? Probably not, but sometimes it seems like CROET is playing us all for suckers.

DOE has not made a decision to release Parcel ED-3 for leasing, so CROET's marketing program is premature (at best). Not only should CROET respect DOE's land-use planning process, but CROET has already been entrusted with plenty of DOE land and facilities that are available for leasing, including most of the area shown on the map above plus almost 500 acres on the 1000-acre Parcel ED-1 property (a.k.a. "the Horizon Center"). With millions of square feet of vacant industrial facilities on the old K-25 Site, only one tenant at the Horizon Center, and hundreds of acres of vacant land surrounding K-25 available for leasing, CROET has plenty to do without trying to market public land it does not have authority over.

Posted December 29, 2001.