GRAY – Two Gray businessmen are hard at work reinventing the former Gobeil’s furniture store complex on Route 100.

Walt Hebold and Ron Marcotte, who operate Advance Realty II, purchased the 14-acre property from Androscoggin Bank in April 2013. Since then, they have renovated several buildings and torn down a former showroom and shed, reducing the complex from 49,000 square feet to 37,000 square feet.

In December, Portland Safe, a financial equipment and services firm, moved into 3,000 square feet of office and storage space in the complex. In late March, Enercon Technologies, a Gray-based electronic product design company owned by Hebold and Marcotte, began to use a warehouse on the property.

On May 1, Patient Advocates, a health management company in Gray, will move its headquarters into a 10,000-square-foot building on the property.

That means that more than half of the 37,000-square-foot complex will be occupied, said Hebold.

“We’re really quite pleased that we’re able to get 60 percent occupancy within the first year of ownership,” he said. “We’re in the process of doing further renovations and soliciting clients.”

Hebold and Marcotte’s efforts mark a turnaround for the sprawling building complex south of downtown Gray, which was once a 3,000-square-foot egg-packing plant and apple orchard.

In 1973, with Ron Gobeil holding part ownership, it became Red Barn Furniture, and three years later, Country Farm Furniture. In 1998, Gobeil acquired full ownership and turned the complex into Gobeil’s Furniture Galleries. After peaking in 2007 with annual sales in excess of $5 million, the home furnishings store fell victim to the housing slump and recession that began in 2008. It closed in 2011.

Leo Credit, president of the Gray-New Gloucester Development Corp., praised the redevelopment project.

“It’s good to see them renovate it and put some tenants in there,” Credit said. “Everybody’s excited about that.”

Brian Sevit, who owns Portland Safe with Brian Fecteau, said the complex presents an optimal location for his business.

“John lives in Windham; I live in Auburn,” Sevit said. “That’s a good central location for both of us. More importantly it has good access to the turnpike, going north or south.”

Sevit said that he heard about the property through Marcotte, who was one of his high school teachers.

“I went to talk to him when we were looking at purchasing the business, and I knew he had some real estate in the area,” Sevit said.

Jim Ward, the owner of Patient Advocates, said that his company has been in need of expanded office space. The company uses 6,000 square feet in a building on Shaker Road that it shares with the Fiddlehead Center for the Arts. Ward said the firm had grown during the past year in spite of the Affordable Care Act, and that he had been forced to move the claims department downtown due to a lack of space.

“We’ve had tremendous growth over the past year,” Ward said. “We’ve outgrown our current location.”

Ward said that he had hoped to keep his business in Gray.

“We really wanted to stay in the area,” he said. “We love this area. It’s a good location. We’re very happy in Gray. That was a major concern of ours. We wanted to stay in this town.”

Credit said that he was happy to see Patient Advocates remain in town as well.

“It’s good to see that they’re expanding and that we’re also keeping them in Gray,” Credit said.

Hebold and Marcotte also own Vuetek Scientific, an advanced imaging systems developer located on Shaker Road. Credit praised the duo’s various entrepreneurial efforts.

“They’ve just been great stewards of the community in terms of trying to help stimulate economic development, because they own a lot of commercial property in the area,” Credit said.

Portland-based Lux Realty is the leasing agent for the property. Hebold said that the remaining property could be leased out in the near future.

“We’re very excited that the project is coming along nicely,” Hebold said. “We do have some prospects for the remaining 40 percent.”

On May 1, Patient Advocates, a health management company in Gray, will move its headquarters into a 10,000-square-foot building at the former Gobeil’s Furniture Galleries complex. Patient Advocates employees, from left, Justin Ward, Renee Lizotte and Sandra Colter, make themselves at home in the new space.