The city’s vision for business development on the former Farmland property at the east edge of the city finally is coming into focus.

This week’s announcement that Midwest Manufacturing, a division of Menard Inc., has reached a preliminary deal to buy 90 acres and build a $25 million production and distribution facility in the new Lawrence VenturePark certainly is welcome news. According to Lawrence chamber of commerce officials, the project would add about 100 jobs that comply with the city’s living wage standards, which currently set the hourly wage floor at $12.56 per hour plus benefits. This is the first proposed project for VenturePark, which was opened for development in October 2014, after more than a decade of work to acquire and clean up the former Farmland site. Chamber officials said they had been working for about a year on the Menard project.

According to the preliminary agreement, the company will pay about $2.1 million for the land and special assessments to fund utility and road improvements at the site. Menard also plans to rehabilitate a rail spur that travels through VenturePark and could be used by other companies that locate there.

In exchange, Menard plans to ask the city for a 50 percent, 10-year property tax abatement, which seems reasonable compared with other recent incentives granted to similar facilities. By comparison, in 2011, the city approved a 65 percent, 10-year abatement plus a $25,000 forgivable loan for a Grandstand Sportswear and Glassware proposal to spend about $5 million to expand into an existing building in East Hills Business Park and create about 40 new jobs over the next five years. Also in 2011, the county approved a 90 percent, 10-year abatement plus funding for infrastructure improvements to Berry Plastics for a $18.5 expansion project that would create 11 new jobs and help retain hundreds of other jobs in the community.

City officials will have to thoroughly vet the Menard project and its potential benefits or liabilities for the community, but officials contacted on Monday were justifiably positive about the chamber’s announcement. In a highly competitive environment, local officials have presented what appears to be a workable plan for the first development at Lawrence VenturePark. Hopefully, this is the first of many new businesses and jobs at that site.