LAWTON, Okla – For years, the old Eddie Cordes Automall building has been for sale. It’s a sprawling huge building most guys have, at one point or another, thought “I wish I could buy that.” It’s full of automotive bays, lifts, tons of room for activities, and even an apartment in the loft space on the second floor. It’s a man cave dream… but that price tag was always a hefty one. Last time I saw it, it was something like $3million.
A few months ago, a fence went up around the Cordes building, and I noticed that someone was parking trucks in the entrances of that huge parking lot just West of it, where the old cinema once was. The rumors started flying. Fast forward to the now, I’ve heard from more than a few people that Mathis Brothers is not only building a huge furniture outlet showroom on that double-site, but also a warehouse like they have and operate in Oklahoma city.
That’s huge for Lawton! Not only is that going to mean a ton of jobs in the showroom, but a ton of jobs in the warehouse too. 2021 is looking up, if our local city council doesn’t manage to screw everything up and run Mathis Bros off like they have so many potential new businesses in the past. I wouldn’t put it past them to let Mathis Bros construct the building, then somehow swindle them out of it for more military contractor offices that can sit empty for the next thirty years.
While it has been fun watching the crews dismantle the old Cordes building, I assume they sold it off to a high bidder to be re-built somewhere else, it’ll be interesting to see exactly how big they build their new mega-store… That is if the rumor holds up to be factually true.
