It’s now uncertain if Menards, one of the country’s largest home improvement store chains, third only behind Home Depot and Lowe’s, will still come to Zanesville after purchasing property on the city’s north end.

The privately held and primarily Midwestern company spent nearly $5 million on a 43-acre lot across from Sams’s Club in early 2020, but since making that purchase movement forward on the project has failed to materialize.

Many local residents remain ecstatic about the company potentially coming to town with us regularly receiving messages, emails and phone calls asking about its status and when construction will begin.

A company representative came before Zanesville’s Community Development Committee in late 2019 for a proposed rezoning ordinance, part of the necessary process if Menards wanted to come to town.

Following that approval, Menards purchased 43.326 acres on a lot at the intersection of Northpointe Drive and Brandywine Boulevard, across from Sam’s Club for $4,950,000 on March 30, 2020.

The location makes strategic sense for the company which has stores in Columbus, Lancaster, New Philadelphia, Mansfield, Athens and Wheeling, West Virginia, all sites nearly 40 plus miles away.

The pandemic delayed initial plans, with Menards halting the opening of all proposed new locations, including a distribution center in Ohio that would have been necessary for further expansion.

It appears the company has failed to relaunch those plans in the following years, likely hurt by rising commercial interest rates while consumer spending also tapers off, compounded by rising inflation.

Zanesville Community Development Director Matthew Schley says he nor other city officials have heard from the company in a while but look forward to the economic development Menards coming to town would bring.

Due to the lapse in time, Schley said, Menards would have to refile its plans with the city, but besides some very minor changes, they could essentially resubmit their original filings.

Muskingum County Auditor Records show that Menards still owns the property. The fact that the company spent five million on the land, Schley said, is a good indication they plan to fulfill their goal of opening a Zanesville location.

A request for further comment to Menards was not returned.