ELLSWORTH, Maine — Goodwill Industries of Northern New England plans to begin renovations this spring on the former Dave Gould Ford building at the Triangle to convert the former auto sales facility to a store.
The organization recently received approval from the city’s Planning Board for the project, which will pave the way for Goodwill to move ahead with the purchase of the property.
Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, which has its headquarters in Portland, operates 25 resale stores in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. The planned store in Ellsworth will be its 19th store in Maine.
“Ellsworth is a community that we think will respond well to a Goodwill store,” said Michelle Smith, communications coordinator for Goodwill Industries of Northern New England. “We’ve been looking at the area for a while. There’s a good population base, which we think will make the store a success.”
Goodwill will purchase the vacant building that once housed the Dave Gould Ford auto dealership, which closed last April after being plagued with financial problems, including allegations of financial impropriety.
According to previous reports, Ford Motor Credit Co., which provided the capital and inventory for the dealership, claimed Gould owed the company more than $2 million. The Maine Secretary of State’s Office also claimed the dealership had committed more than 150 fraudulent acts which had cost its customers a total of more than $288,000.
Bangor Savings Bank foreclosed on the property and currently owns the building. The sale is pending and Randy Finamore, director of retail operations for Goodwill, said Thursday he anticipates the sale will be completed by the end of this month.
Finamore said he did not have solid figures yet on how much the organization will spend to purchase and upgrade the building. Goodwill is working with an architect and engineer on the renovation plans, and that project has not yet been put out to bid.
According to the city’s Web site, the property, which includes the building on a 2.2-acre lot, is assessed at $1,184,200. Gould purchased the property in 1998 for $1.5 million.
At an auction in August, the bank rejected a bid of $850,000 for the property and entered its own bid of $900,000 to end the proceedings.
Goodwill plans to convert the approximately 15,000-square-foot store, with about 10,000 square feet devoted to store space, Smith said. The remaining 5,000 square feet will be devoted to processing donations and office space.
According to Finamore, the organization plans to keep the existing building, but will “re-skin” the exterior. They plan to do a “significant amount” of traffic work on the lot to establish new traffic patterns around the building and will add landscaping.
“We will bring a very attractive Goodwill store to the city of Ellsworth,” he said.
The store also will feature a canopied, donor drive-through area that will make it easier and more convenient for donors to drop off donations.
Goodwill expects to employ about 30 people, offering competitive wages, Finamore said. Those jobs will include management, sales clerks and donation processors.
Work on the site is expected to begin early in spring and Goodwill hopes to have the new store open by late summer.
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