Menards Developing Homes Around Its Stores

Milwaukee, WI, May 6, 2008--Home improvement retailer Menards is creating need for its products by developing homes in residential subdivisions.

Homes have already been built in Illinois and they are planned in Indiana.

Menards is looking for new projects around its existing stores, said Jamie Radabaugh, director of sales and leasing for the company's property division. The company gets deals on land when it plans stores and then sells the land to home developers.

This could be a first for the industry, said Scott Wright, a spokesman for the North American Retail Hardware Association.

In 2001, Yorkville, on the fringe near metropolitan Chicago, annexed about 250 acres of farmland owned by Menards. Some of the land was set aside for a new store, which opened two years later.

Parcels were also set aside for 164 single-family homes and 68 townhouse-style condos.

Menards installed infrastructure for the single-family homes and has sold 129 lots to local homebuilder AMG Homes. Since 2005, AMG has built 110 homes.

In buying the lots, AMG agreed to purchase virtually all of its building materials for the project from Menards, the company said.

The company built subdivisions years ago in Franklin and Eau Claire in Wisconsin. The subdivision business is increasing as its land acquisitions have grown. Menards now operates about 240 stores in 11 states.

Other sites are planned in north central Indiana, where a store will open early next year.