Renovations underway for new Evansville Goodwill headquarters

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Evansville’s Goodwill is working to renovate what will become its new corporate headquarters. On Friday, they unveiled their plans for the former Sears building at Washington Square Mall.

Evansville Goodwill bought the 180,000-square-foot space in 2020. Now, work is underway to turn it into a place they expect to have a positive impact on the community.

“This is a real opportunity for the community,” said Evansville Goodwill President and CEO Connie Ralph.

Goodwill officials say renovations are underway for not only their corporate headquarters, but also an expanded retail store and additional mission services. Officials say they will have space for all of that and then have plenty left over for future expansion in the coming years.

Officials say they anticipate having a positive impact on the surrounding area.

“We are really going to be helping to revitalize the south side of Evansville, which is one of the things we’re really excited about,” said Ralph. “The other is that by providing expanded mission services, people who are struggling, who have barriers to employment are going to have access to a lot more services.”

They say the building will include what they are calling The Excel Center, which will help adults get a high school diploma. Goodwill officials say they hope it can help people facing barriers to employment get jobs. They say these barriers can include disabilities, a criminal record, substance abuse or homelessness.

Some of their team members say they are already eager to utilize it.

“As soon as I found out about The Excel Center I was ecstatic, I was so happy about it just because you don’t get a GED you get a diploma,” said Evansville Goodwill Team Member Kelsey Lefler. “It’s like right back into the high school whole little scene again. So I’m excited for it, I’m excited for it to come. I can’t wait until next year.”

Officials say they are about 35% through their planned renovations, and they expect to move in during the first quarter of 2024.

Goodwill officials say they have plans already for what will happen to the Goodwill store already on Green River Road, but they aren’t ready to share those plans quite yet.

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