Council approves rezoning, annexation for Menards

Springfield City Council unanimously approved three bills at last night’s council meeting tied to construction plans by Eau Claire, Wis.-based home improvement retailer Menard Inc.

The council action started by annexing into the city 39 acres of private property and 6 acres of Missouri Department of Transportation and Greene County right-of-way located at 3705 W. Sunshine St.

The administrative body then voted to terminate the Hickory Hills Marketplace Community Improvement District before rezoning nearly 35 acres at 3429 E. Chestnut Expressway to a highway commercial district from a planned development district.

Menards was targeted by developer Paul Larino – who had established the CID – as an anchor tenant for his Hickory Hills Marketplace project, but a deal never came together and Larino eventually walked away from his plans.

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. In December, a spokesman for the company said the company was planning to build a second store northwest of the Wal-Mart Supercenter and across from the 96-acre Springfield Plaza development at South West Bypass and West Sunshine Street.

The moves pose a threat to Springfield-based Hermann Lumber Co., which sold stores in Camdenton, Eldon and Lebanon after a new Menards opened in Lake of the Ozarks area a couple of years ago, Hermann officials told Springfield Business Journal.

The preliminary plat for the west Springfield Menards is expected to go before the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission on April 9 and receive a first reading at council on April 27.