Factory Furniture Out in Fayetteville

FFO Home store at 1535 N College Ave. in Fayetteville

Remember two years ago when a Dallas real estate investor paid $7.2 million for the Evelyn Hills Shopping Center in midtown Fayetteville?

Well, J.C. Burciaga has returned to northwest Arkansas to buy the former Factory Furniture Outlet Home store just across College Avenue. The purchase price for the 18,500-SF retail-warehouse checked in at $850,000.

Burciaga had taken out a $7 million loan on the Evelyn Hills center from Liberty Bankers Life Insurance Co. in Dallas. He added another $950,000 to the loan to buy the FFO Home store in order to make renovations and capital improvements.

FFO Home, which was founded by Ray Whitmire in Fort Smith in 1984, closed the store when the COVID-19 pandemic rolled into town. The franchise was acquired by Sun Capital Partners Inc. in 2016; several locations have since closed or been sold.

There are approximately 31 stores in five states now.

The sellers of the College Avenue store were Bryan and Karla Whitmire, Larry and Candace Rainwater and Donna Reece. Bryan Whitmire and Larry Rainwater are executives with FFO Home, and Bryan Whitmire and Donna Reece are siblings.

The group acquired the property for $600,000 in 1997.