The name of a major sporting goods chain, Academy Sports, appears on a Statesboro city permit associated with the ongoing renovations at 600 Northside Drive East, the long-vacant former Publix supermarket location in University Commons.
That's the commercial center, behind a Wendy's, that contains the Red Claw, an El Sombrero and the Lucky Garden restaurant and a vape and smoke shop.
Contractor fences, a roll-off bin and work trucks have been obvious signs of interior demolition and some type of renovation in the old grocery store portion of the property since December. A few trailers carrying shiny metal equipment have arrived, and at times contractor employees can be seen on top of the building.
The Herald recently requested and obtained an electronic copy of a Statesboro city permit dated 22 December 2025 whose specifications box indicates it is for "New Electrical Service, Academy Sports, 600 Northside Drive East." It further names Clifford Lusk, PE, electrical engineer, as submitting the plans with his seal, and identifies Hull Property Group, the apparent direct or indirect owner of the building.
The Bulloch County Board of Tax Assessors database lists the shopping center with the address 581 Northside Drive East and the owner as Statesboro University Village LLC. But "600" was previously over one of the doors there, and as noted when the Herald first reported on this activity at the end of December, the LLC has the same Augusta address as the Hull Group.
No announcement had been made as of Monday, and city officials have been reluctant to comment on what may go in the building. In December, Statesboro's city Planning and Development Director Justin Williams confirmed only that the property owner was planning to put "some type of retail" there.
Monday, the Statesboro Herald asked if he had any comment on the prospective business in light of the electrical permit or any further knowledge of the plans.
"I would hesitate to speculate on this until a build-out permit has been issued," Williams said in a reply email. "At this time, that has not happened."
Early Monday afternoon, the reporter filed a media information request through the "contact us" page of the Academy Sports+Outdoors Inc. website. In the late afternoon, he also sent an email to a Hull Group communications address. No replies had been received as of online story posting time Monday.
Big company
As of the third quarter of 2025, Academy Sports+Outdoors Inc. – based at Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston – operated 317 stores in 21 states across the South, Southeast and Midwest, according to information on its website. One of the company's three distribution centers is located in Jeffersonville, Georgia. The others are in Cookeville, Tennessee and Katy, Texas.
As of a December report for investors, the corporation's 2025 net sales were forecast at $6 billion to $6.2 billion. A publicly traded company since late 2020, it is listed on Nasdaq with the symbol ASO.
A store locator page on the website listed 22 Georgia stores, with some of the nearest being one each in Brunswick, in Evans near Augusta, and in Macon.