Eau Claire, Wis.-based Menard Inc. this month signed a $4 million contract to purchase Springfield Public Schools' former Hickory Hills School property on the east side of town.
The SPS Board of Education approved the contract in an Aug. 12 executive session, and Menards signed the deal Aug. 19. The purchase of the 15-acre property at Chestnut Expressway and Highway 65 could close as early as February, according to a news release.
According to the
16-page real estate contract signed by both parties and provided to Springfield Business Journal, Menards intends to develop a retail and commercial shopping center at the site to be anchored by its first store in the Queen City.
Menards operates nine Missouri stores - including a location in Lake Ozark - as part of its network of 287 stores in 14 Midwestern states. Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott declined to answer specific questions related to the store plans at Hickory Hills or whether the development is part of a greater expansion effort.
“We hope to build a new Menards store in Springfield, Mo., sometime in the future, although no final decisions have been made. We’re still working through the initial approval processes, and no official timeline has been established just yet," Abbott said in an emailed statement.
Home-improvement chain Menards had been an anchor tenant candidate at the Hickory Hills property when developer Paul Larino was planning a 46-acre development known as Hickory Hills Marketplace. After failing to make a number of payments to the district - with SPS offering several contract extensions - Larino walked away from the development in December 2012, giving ownership of the property back to the district. At the time, Larino cited an inability to secure Menards as an anchor tenant as one of the elements leading to the downfall of the development, according to
SBJ archives.
While developing the site, Larino and Larino Properties LLC made a number of improvements, including demolishing the former school building.
Menards also had been in talks with Larino for his 32-acre Wilson's Creek Marketplace in Battlefield, which remains undeveloped. In March 2013, Springfield First Community Bank put up $2.9 million to cover a tax lien on the Wilson's Creek property after the home improvement chain scratched plans to build, according to
SBJ archives.
This spring, Menards began construction work on a store in Comstock Township, Mich., three years after plans were first announced, according to
MLive.com.
Another Menards store in Davenport, Iowa, opened this spring after several years in the making, according to the
Quad City Business Journal.[[In-content Ad]]
