North Omaha Menards

[Guest]

Menards is interested in opening a store in North Omaha.   Apparently, according to one of my friends who works for a commercial real estate company, officials from Menards were in town last week looking at properties.   As someone who used to work for Menards several years ago, I know the company often followed Walmart, so it kind of makes sense.   Since both companies cater to the same demographics, it was cheaper for Menards to have Walmart spend all the money on research as to where would be a good location to build, and then build a Menards store close to the new Walmart.   This would be great for North Omaha.    It would at least create a 100+ jobs.

[Brad]

That would be great for North Omaha!

However the model of building by walmart doesn't seem to be very true in Omaha...  120 and Dodge, 204 and dodge, 72 and L.

Also, there is not a lot of land up there.  I am guessing Walmart will use all the land for their own site and Menard's will need even more than Walmart.  The former Ames plaza just underwent a makeover, otherwise that and the Ames Bowl may have had enough room.  There are a few places on N72nd that may have enough room.  Other than that, there isn't a big chunk of land up there where major redevelopment wouldn't be required to build.

For Comparison, The new Menard's at 72 and L has a 16.5 Acre lot, that Baker's lot is only 9.7, even if they add the lot with the strip mall, its still only going to total 15.3 Acres.  The rachbowl walmart is 16.7 and the new one on "L" street is 18.7.

[GetUrban]

There could be enough room for Menards at Sorensen Park Plaza near 72nd and Sorensen Parkway, maybe if they combined a few outlots. Although that may be perceived as too close to the Home Depot at 72nd & Ames....and not really that close to the new 50th & Ames Walmart....just thinking out loud.

[Uffda]

it seems like at one time there was talk of a Lowes right across the street from Walmart on N 99th and Balir High Road --- so maybe there

[BRoss]

it seems like at one time there was talk of a Lowes right across the street from Walmart on N 99th and Balir High Road --- so maybe there

That would be a good spot for one. That whole area really needs more development. It kind of surprises me that most of Blair High Rd is still mostly rural despite all the residential developments within a mile of the roadway.

[GetUrban]

That does seem like a logical location for Lowes or Menards, given the new spurt of growth occurring to the northwest. Should be enough land available in that area too.

[Candleshoe]

Generally speaking, Menards likes to buy a large undeveloped piece of land as cheap as possible and then sell parcels at a huge markup. Commercial real estate is a big income for them.

[Guest]

There could be enough room for Menards at Sorensen Park Plaza near 72nd and Sorensen Parkway, maybe if they combined a few outlots. Although that may be perceived as too close to the Home Depot at 72nd & Ames....and not really that close to the new 50th & Ames Walmart....just thinking out loud.

I'd love to see this happen, but I don't think there's enough room there.  The only feasible spot would be between Golden Corral and Great Escape Theaters, and I don't think that's big enough.

On the other hand, there is open land on North 72nd, between Sorensen Plaza & I-680.  That'd be a great location for a new Menards.

[Guest]

The former Ames plaza just underwent a makeover, otherwise that and the Ames Bowl may have had enough room.  There are a few places on N72nd that may have enough room.  Other than that, there isn't a big chunk of land up there where major redevelopment wouldn't be required to build.

Even without the Ames Plaza being recently renovated, I'm not sure there's enough room there for a Menards.  Plus, that'd be only 12 blocks from Home Depot.

But mostly, I cannot imagine adding that much more traffic to Ames Avenue, between 52nd & 72nd.  It's a mess already.

[Guest]

I have no 'secret' knowledge, but I have thought for many years if there was a Lowe's, Home Depot, or Menards somewhere from 30th street west and I-680, it would be a winner.  There would be a vast swath of Omaha close, and it would pull in Blair and Iowa people too.

Yeah, there would need to be a pile of dirt moved to make a 16 acre plot from some of the places along there, but consider how much $$$ Menards has in their operation at 120th and Dodge, this lot would be cheap compared to building 2 buildings and nuking an adjoining  strip mall.  (anybody even remember if it was a Marshall's or a Kohls they leveled?)

Bellevue Menard's is on the Kennedy, Manawa Menard's and Home Depot are on I-29/80, 2 Menards are on the West Dodge Expressway, another lumberyard on the Interstate on the north side could be a good idea.