Lawrence City Commission to receive incentives request for Menard Inc. production plant

This composite image from promotional materials shows a logo and rendering of Lawrence Venture Park.

The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday will officially receive Menard Inc.’s request for public incentives to construct a production plant and warehouse in the city and be asked to advance the request for further review.

The proposed project, which was announced last week by the Lawrence chamber of commerce, would create more than 100 jobs and be the first development in Lawrence VenturePark, the business park near 23rd Street and O’Connell Road that was opened in October 2014.

According to an application submitted by Menard Inc., the company is seeking a 50 percent, 10-year tax abatement. It’s also requesting a grant from the city of $549,350 that would be paid over a period of 10 years. Lastly, it’s asking the city hand over ownership of a warehouse building on site at no cost.

The incentives are estimated to offset costs of the $25 million project by about $2.3 million.

Commissioners on Tuesday will be asked to advance the request to city staff and the Public Incentives Review Committee. They will also set a public hearing for the request. A tentative date for the hearing is Jan. 5.

The item is on the commission’s consent agenda, meaning commissioners may not discuss it before taking a vote.

Mayor Mike Amyx and Commissioner Leslie Soden told the Journal-World last week they were viewing the incentives package favorably. Both noted the number of full-time jobs the development would bring.

A breakdown of what those jobs would be is included in Menard Inc.’s application. According to that document, 65 people would be hired for production at a starting hourly wage of $13.88. Ten would be hired as supervisors at $15.17 per hour, and 10 assistant plant managers would earn $16.71 per hour.

The remaining jobs include site manager, human resources coordinator, plant managers, controllers, manager trainees and maintenance workers.

The lowest hourly wage is $13.84. All of the positions meet the city’s living wage standards, which currently stand at $12.56 per hour with benefits.

All employees would be offered benefits, including health and dental insurance and profit sharing.

Menard Inc. would contract with local third-party companies for security and trucking services, creating 10 to 15 jobs in addition to the 100.

The site at VenturePark would include spaces to build exterior stone products and roof trusses. Plans also call for a distribution building and the rehabilitation of a rail spur through the park, which would be available for other companies that may build in VenturePark in the future.

About 60 acres would be developed, and 20 would be set aside for future expansion. The rest of the 90-acre site would be used as buffer space, for landscaping and for storm water collection.

The plant would serve Menards stores throughout Kansas and western Missouri.

In a letter to the city from Menard Inc., real estate representative Scott Nuttelman said public assistance is “vital” to the company’s investment in the city.

Besides the city’s incentives package, Menard Inc. is also asking Douglas County for a $200,000 grant to be paid over 10 years.

In the letter, Nuttelman writes that the cost versus benefit of building a production plant in Lawrence is “particularly challenging” because the number and density of stores the Lawrence plant would serve is lower than for other facilities the company has developed in the past.

He continued on to say an existing facility in Omaha or an under-construction facility in St. Louis could be used to supply the Kansas and western Missouri stores.

“Public assistance with the cost of the project is required to provide a positive rate of return on the large up-front investment involved in developing a project of this magnitude,” the letter states.

For the plant to be fully operational by the end of 2017 as planned, all design and permitting would need to be completed this spring, according to the letter. Menard Inc. wants to start construction in summer 2016.

If the City Commission on Tuesday advances the request, it would be the first step toward approval.

Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard and Brady Pollington, vice president of the Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence and Douglas County, which helped broker the preliminary deal with Menard Inc., sent letters to commissioners recommending support for the project.

Pollington told the Journal-World last week economic development leaders had been working on landing the deal for more than a year.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for our community,” Pollington’s letter stated. “Lawrence and Douglas County will potentially gain many needed jobs with good wages, additional diversification of the community’s economic base and a strong anchor tenant for our newly redeveloped business park.”