After years of controversy Davenport is one step closer to getting a new Menards. Wednesday night city leaders will discuss re-arranging "out-lots" near 65th street, but they also have a significant announcement to make.
The big news today is that we will finally see some more progress on the new Menards in Davenport. Construction is slated to begin in early Spring.
For sale signs outside of the 53rd Street Menards may be misleading because many thought Menards had to sell the old location to start building a new one. However, Davenport's senior planning manager says we can expect construction to start as early as March.
The new Menards will be at the corner of 65th Street and Frontage road in Davenport. It's just west of North Brady street.
At tonight's committee of the whole meeting, city leaders will discuss rearranging "out-lots" to put a retention area in the corner of the property and away from neighboring homes.
Back in December of 2007 the property was rezoned to make way for the new Menards. In January of 2008 the final development plan was approved, and in April of that year -- that plan was modified to add the other commercial sites.
But not much since then the project had been contingent on a buyer for the current store. Now, that's not the case.
Plans can move forward and Menards can finally break ground on 65th street.
"I think we've all been waiting patiently. They went through a rezoning process in 2007 and 2008. So, they as a corporation have been building a number of stores across the Midwest, and Davenport has been pretty much waiting our turn," said Senior Planning Manager Matt Flynn.
Flynn says the city has been reviewing building plans and construction documents. They expect the new store to be under construction likely by March.
As for the current Menards location, the city and the store have come to an agreement.
"We just didn't want to have another empty store front left. We can't guarantee that the property is going to sell or be reused but the whole idea there was to make sure that Menards was doing what they could to get a new user in there," said Flynn.
A lot of times it's difficult to market a property when the new one hasn't started construction yet. City leaders think when things get started on N. Brady Street; it'll show potential buyers that the property is actually available.
