A Lubbock investment group has bought the former Goody’s building at Franklin Avenue and New Road and now will determine what to place in the 51,451-square-foot structure.

“We really don’t have a specific use at this point,” said Gordon Wilkerson, a real estate agent who represented the buyers. “We just thought it was a good property and a good investment.”

The space has been vacant since 2008, when the Goody’s department store chain closed several locations around the country to regain its financial footing.

Goody’s closed this store in Waco and several others around the country in 2008 to regain its financial footing.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

The building went into foreclosure and was taken back by the owner, GE Capital, said Waco real estate agent Erik Hill, who represented GE Capital in the sale.

Goody’s, which operated 383 stores at its peak, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2009 and shortly thereafter closed all its stores. Stage Stores acquired rights to the Goody’s name.

Hill said there was a “flurry of interest” in the building shortly after it went vacant, but that soon waned. The asking price had dropped to $1.99 million at the time of the sale, but GE Capital did not get that much, Hill said.

In today’s economy, Hill said, he would be surprised if the Lubbock investment group could find a single user for the entire building. He said most national, big-name retailers are not actively expanding.

The Goody’s building is located in the Franklin Village retail center. The center contains two commercial strips, one of which faces Franklin Avenue and is riddled with vacancies, including the former Goody’s location. The other strip faces New Road and is home to Family Christian Stores, Star Nails, Sprint and Wingstop.

PetSmart and Outback Steakhouse are big names still occupying the center.

Right across Franklin Avenue from Franklin Village is the former Super Kmart building, whose owners have taken a piecemeal approach to filling the 195,000 square feet that went vacant in 2003.

Academy Sports & Outdoors anchors one end of the building, and Gold’s Gym occupies the other. About 75,000 square feet of space in between has been vacant since Kmart closed.

Filling the empty space is the kind of challenge now facing the new owners of the Goody’s building.

But local real estate agent Patrick Farrar said he’s seeing a change in attitudes toward commercial space. He works for the Reid Co. in Waco and will help market vacant space in the former Kmart. The building is owned by Levcor Inc. of Houston, which has been trying to find a lessee or lessees for the 75,000 square feet.

“Our feeling is that things are starting to turn around. We’re seeing a little more interest in commercial property, especially the last couple of months,” Farrar said. “At least we’re not getting a flat ‘no.’ People are requesting more information about the property we’re representing.”

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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