Menards pulls out of Glen Carbon project

GLEN CARBON — Menards is out as Orchard Town Center's anchor store, Glen Carbon Mayor Bob Marcus confirmed Monday.

The village approved Menards to be the development's anchor in June 2021. The company planned a 209,000-square-foot store, three or four junior anchor stores and 12 outlots. It would have been the second Menards in the Metro East.

"A few weeks ago the developer, The Staenberg Group, approached the village and advised that Menards has not closed on the property due to disagreements between Menards and the developer," Marcus said. "Currently, my understanding is that Menards terminated the purchase contract with the developer.

"The developer advised that there has been significant interest in the property," he added. "Meijer recently approached the village with due diligence inquiries."

Tim Lowe, vice president of leasing and development for the Staenberg Group, said there was a disagreement on the closing time with Menards after it completed its due diligence on the site. Staenberg wanted Menards to complete its due diligence phase first by the end of 2021 and then by Jan. 31, 2022. After Menards failed to meet both dates, they terminated the purchase contract.

Lowe said many other potential suitors besides Menards had expressed interest in Orchard Town Center, but he denied that a Hy-Vee grocery store was the next tenant. Instead, he said Meijer recently signed a new purchase contract for a 160,000-square-foot store to anchor the development.

Meijer is in the due diligence phase now, and Lowe said he expects the company to appear before Glen Carbon's building and development committee either later this month or in June. 

Changing anchors in the midst of construction will not greatly affect the project's overall timeline, Lowe said and the outlot tenants are unchanged by this development. Chick-fil-A, the first outlot tenant, remains on track to open next year. This would be Meijer's first foray into this area. The closest current Meijer locations are in Normal, Champaign-Urbana, Terre Haute and Evansville. 

Lowe said the first phase of the project will be to open the anchor store plus four outlots first then in phase two, open the other eight outlots and junior anchor tenants, ones too large to fit into an outlot but smaller than the main anchor store. 

Marcus said he wants to use this opportunity to make changes to the original site plan since Meijer's footprint is almost 50,000-square-feet less than Menards'.

"A new anchor tenant would give the village the opportunity to further improve the site," Marcus said. "I am suggesting additional functional greenspace, another bike trail connection and to develop the park to be more engaging for residents. As far as the village is concerned, there is an existing tax-increment financing/business district in place for Orchard Town Center."