CUYAHOGA FALLS: Plans for a new Menards home improvement store on Graham Road have been delayed for at least another year.
While the company has not specified its reason to Cuyahoga Falls officials, a company spokesperson quoted about delays in other cities is blaming President Obama.
The explanation being given is an old argument the company has used before.
This week, the New Philadelphia Times-Reporter reported plans for a Menards store there have been put on hold, and used a quote from a company spokesperson that is almost word for word a quote that appeared in a Missouri newspaper in 2012.
“We are a family-owned business and with the Obama Administration scaring the dickens out of all family businesses in the USA at present and with no certainty if the next administration will be any better, we have decided not to risk expansion until things are more settled,” Menard Inc. spokesperson Jessie O’Mara told the Times-Reporter this week.
Four years ago, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Menard spokesman Jeff Abbot about the company backing out of plans for a store in O’Fallon, Mo., saying: “I’m very sorry, but we are a family-owned business and with the Obama Administration scaring the dickens out of all small businesses in the USA at present, we have decided not to risk expansion until things are more settled.”
The company did not immediately respond on Monday to a Beacon Journal request to elaborate on the comment.
This week, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters said he learned the company is delaying all new construction projects scheduled for this year.
Area residents have been waiting since 2014 for the store to break ground, when it was originally suggested the store would fit into the city’s new Portage Crossing shopping development.
Those plans fell apart, but the city worked with the company to acquire another property down the road. In 2015, Menard purchased the former Giant Eagle property on Graham Road, a 10-acre parcel it acquired for $1.4 million.
The old grocery store was demolished to make room for a 172,740-square-foot building, with expectations of a grand opening in the spring of 2016.
Last August, the company announced it would delay groundbreaking until this spring and open its new store in the spring of 2017. At that time, city officials said they were told the delay was due to the company redesigning the interior of all of its stores.
“While we are disappointed in the decision to delay construction, we are encouraged by Menard’s continued commitment to developing their property here,” Walters said.
Walters and Community Development Director Diane Sheridan said their Menard contacts have not said anything to them about the political environment causing the delay.
“They have not said that to us, either verbally or in writing,” Sheridan said.
While the bulldozers aren’t preparing to move in, Sheridan said the company has been moving forward with the necessary paperwork and permits for the project. The company submitted sanitary sewer plans last month.
A family-owned company started in 1958, Menard is headquartered in Eau Claire, Wis., and has more than 280 home improvement stores located in 14 states. Currently, the closest store to the Akron area is in Massillon.
Last year, Menard spokesman Tom O’Neil said in a public hearing that the Cuyahoga Falls store would employ at least 125 people — about 40-45 of them full-time, and that the total investment in the retail space, an adjoining 47,000-square-foot warehouse and a 414-spot parking lot would be about $21 million.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.