Menards shutters plans for KC-area store again

Representatives with Eau Claire, Wis.-based home improvement retailer Menard Inc. have told city officials in Merriam, Kan., to stop work on zoning changes and the creation of a tax-financing district for a massive store at the corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road.

The move comes after Menards withdrew consideration for a new store in Shawnee, Kan., late last year, and in addition to a number of abandoned plans in the Kansas City area through the years, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.

The Merriam plan had been to demolish a former Kmart site and build a new store that reportedly would have been the largest home improvement store in Kansas. The retailer had asked the city to expand a redevelopment district to include the property and had filed a $6 million TIF application in addition to seeking zoning changes, according to the Prairie Village Post.

In December, company officials confirmed plans to build two stores in Springfield.

In August, Menards signed a $4 million contract to purchase Springfield Public Schools’ former Hickory Hills School property at Chestnut Expressway and U.S. Highway 65. On Dec. 1, a spokesman for the company said plans are in the works to build a second store northwest of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at South West Bypass and West Sunshine Street across the street from the $78 million Springfield Plaza mixed-use development.

Menards was targeted by developer Paul Larino as an anchor tenant for his Hickory Hills Marketplace project, but a deal was never solidified and Larino eventually scrapped his plans.

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