$8 million deal: Hobby Lobby acquires key portion of former HanesBrands headquarters site

The former HanesBrands Inc. headquarters campus has a new owner.

An affiliate of the Hobby Lobby retail chain paid $8 million for a portion of the 125-acre site, according to a Forsyth County Register of Deeds filing.

The buyer is Hobby Lobby Stores of Oklahoma City.

According to the deed filing, Hobby Lobby bought about 28 acres of the 94.76-acre main campus at 1000 E. Hanes Mill Road that included the two former HanesBrands headquarters buildings. The two buildings are a combined 500,000 square feet, and the parking lots are included.

The affiliate also bought three parcels of 10.36, 5.74 and 5.55 acres.

Hobby Lobby could not be immediately reached for comment on its plans for the property.

Hobby Lobby's Winston-Salem retail store is at 3775 Oxford Station Way and contains a 55,000-square-foot retail building. Hobby Lobby does not own the 7.63-acre retail site.

The seller of the former HanesBrands headquarters campus is Strong Tower Carolina, a Kernersville-based company with Tony Alford as its managing partner.

Alford, owner of Alford Investments, said Wednesday he could not speak on Hobby Lobby's plans for the site.

Strong Tower served as the real estate conduit for then-Carolina University president Charles Pruitt's planned growth initiative, which involved moving the university's downtown Winston-Salem campus to the HanesBrands headquarters site in time for the fall 2025 semester. Alford has served on the university's board of trustees.

Carolina University and HanesBrands issued a joint news release in July 2024 that unveiled Carolina's plans to purchase the property, and HanesBrands' plans to move its headquarters and its 500 employees to downtown Winston-Salem's Park Building.

In August 2024, Strong Tower bought the entire 125-acre property for $9 million. Alford and Pruitt were partners in purchasing the property.

However, Pruitt died in May 2025 after serving as Carolina's president for more than 23 years.

With the visionary and main backer of the relocation deceased, the university's board of trustees quietly decided not to pursue the relocation, and Strong Tower began marketing the property.

Alford has plans for a mixed-use development on the 75 acres that Strong Tower retained. The Hobby Lobby purchase should serve as a catalyst for more development.

"We're looking at some family housing and apartments in the back portion of the property north of the lake," Alford said. "Perhaps senior apartments given the location to the nearby Maple Chase Golf and Country Club.

"We're looking at potential retail or medical office use toward the front on about 25-30 acres that would be keeping in line with what's on Hanes Mill Road."

Alford said his plans would require rezoning approvals from the Winston-Salem City Council and the City/County Planning Board.

"After sitting dormant for a while, we are looking forward to repurposing the property for community use," Alford said. "I would hope we would get some new entrants to the market.

"We already have some letters of intent in the last 30 days, interest from a convenience store, so we hope to have something going forward sometime soon."

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