Area real estate professionals are optimistic they’ll soon find tenants for two large industrial buildings that will be left vacant by a pair of companies leaving Lawrence.

Davol Inc., a manufacturer of a variety of medical devices, and Kmart, the now bankrupt retailer, both announced in the past 12 months that they’ll be closing their Lawrence operation.

But a buyer has been found for the 211,211-square-foot Davol Inc. building near 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue, and the real estate agent marketing the Kmart building near 31st and Iowa streets said interest has been high from several national retailers.

Mark Fountain with Kansas City, Mo.-based Fountain Properties, said a Kansas City area investor has agreed to purchase the Davol building.

But the deal won’t mean any immediate new jobs for the Lawrence area. That’s because the buyer, who Fountain wouldn’t identify until the deal is finalized this summer, doesn’t have a tenant for the building.

Instead, he hopes to redevelop the large industrial building into a multi-tenant complex that could house a mixture of up to six manufacturing, warehouse or office users.

“The nice thing about this plan is you don’t have to go find a 211,000-square-foot tenant, which is hard to do anywhere but especially in a town the size of Lawrence,” Fountain said. “Smaller tenants are a lot easier to find.”

Fountain said the investor has had success in redeveloping large industrial buildings in other smaller communities.

“This is probably the best thing that could happen to the building because he’ll make that building a lot more useable by slicing it up,” Fountain said. “If you were waiting for one single user to come along, that building could be sitting empty for three or four years, and you really don’t want that to happen,” Fountain said.

A Kansas City area investor has agreed to purchase the Davol Inc. building at 700 E. 22nd St. The investor is planning on splitting the building up and renting it out to a combination of warehouse, manufacturing and office companies.

Davol announced in August it would close the plant, which has been in operation since 1960, as part of a restructuring plan expected to save $20 million a year.

Jodi Belpedio, real estate agent with Rubenstein Real Estate of Kansas City, Kan., said she believed her firm wouldn’t have much problem in finding a new tenant for the 118,000-square-foot store.

“The 31st and Iowa area is considered the retail mecca as far as the market in Lawrence goes,” Belpedio said. “We think Lawrence is an incredibly good market, and we think this location is a really good location.”

Belpedio said she’s received strong interest from both big box retailers and “junior tenants,” which are smaller national chains that are in the 25,000 to 30,000 square foot range. The property’s owners, a group of Kansas City area investors, are considering dividing the building up to accommodate three to four of the smaller retailers.

“We’re going to explore all the opportunities,” Belpedio said.

She declined to identify any of the retailers who had expressed interest in locating at the site.

Farther south on Iowa Street, the former Payless Cashways building remains empty after the building supplies retailer closed the store in 2001.

The former Payless Cashways building, 3434 Iowa, remains empty. A real estate agent said the location would become more desirable if the final leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway were completed.

The 73,500-square-foot building that sits on 10.6 acres at 3434 Iowa continues to draw interest from potential tenants, but real estate agent Carl LaSala of LaSala Sonnenberg Commercial Realty in Overland Park said there was no deal in the works.

“We have some activity, but I wouldn’t say there is anything imminent,” LaSala said.

LaSala said the location would become more desirable if the final leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway, which runs by the store site, were completed.

He also said the slow economy has made the space difficult to fill.

“I think what we’re facing is not just a Lawrence thing or anything with this particular location,” LaSala said. “It is just a global economic slowdown.”

LaSala said the configuration of the building makes it difficult to divide into use by several smaller tenants, which means a big box retailer or some other large single user is its most likely tenant.

“I actually think it would make a great car dealership,” LaSala said. “It would fit in well with the other car dealerships out there.” can be reached at 832-6362.