Goodwill renovating E. Stone Dr. location for main offices

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KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Goodwill of Tenneva home offices will move to new digs sometime next year as the nonprofit completes a $2.5 million renovation on one of three buildings it bought in 2018 at the former Traders Village vendor mall on East Stone Drive.

“We’re going in and going to create a bank of offices and some collaborative space for the community,” Goodwill Communications Director Amanda Adams said Thursday. “Currently, that space is just a big open warehouse.”

Burleson Construction is completing the renovation at the property which includes a couple of other buildings. Goodwill leases one to a NAPA store and uses the other as a transportation center. Its retail store will remain at 1185 N. Eastman Road in a leased space there.

But by late spring or early summer 2024, about 25 management staff will be in the renovated space, where Adams said the community will find a more conducive environment for group meetings as well.

CEO Morris Baker said the property includes about 20 acres behind the buildings and he’s hoping it can be used for the organization’s growing sustainability efforts. Goodwill of Tenneva operates in 17 counties of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia and recently began a cardboard collection operation.

Domtar is purchasing that corrugated cardboard for use at its local facility.

“We’re able to hire folks and do our core mission work,” Baker said of Goodwill’s sustainability efforts, which also include a textile reclamation component.

“Last year, we kept around 10 million pounds out of landfills in the 17 counties we serve.”