While Griffith’s long-awaited Menards project is on indefinite hiatus, Town Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, remains hopeful the home improvement store project will one day come to fruition.
“We will do everything we can as a town to make it happen sooner,” said Ryfa, who initially announced the project in February 2023.
Menards announced in August that it not be relocating Griffith from their current Calumet Township store on Ridge Road. Jeff Abbott, spokesman for Menard Inc., issued a politically-tinged statement on behalf of the of Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based company.
“We’re a privately-owned and family run company,” he said. “The present economic and political situation in Washington is making us less enthusiastic about spending money on new developments at this time. We still hope to build a store on the property someday when things are more settled.”
Ryfa agreed that current economic realities seemingly brought the project to a halt.
“It wasn’t unexpected based on what’s going on right now,” he said. “They want to see what happens with the economy after this next (Presidential) election. Regardless of who gets elected, they do have concerns of the U.S. possibly going into a (economic) downturn.”
While Ryfa hopes the town could attract another developer, the town’s hands are essentially tied as Menard Inc. owns much of the Griffith Park property, including the former Kmart building, which has been shuttered for more than eight years now. He believes Menard Inc. has approximately $10 million currently invested in the property.
Menard Inc. is responsible for the upkeep of the adjacent property, namely a parking lot and vacant land to the east, Ryfa said. But responsibility for the appearance of the Kmart building is more convoluted.
According to Ryfa, Menard Inc. leases the building to an unknown entity connected to Kmart, likely a holding company. He noted that the building has changed ownership several times over the years.
“We believe that someone affiliated with Kmart is paying rent to Menards,” Ryfa said, speculating that the rent is in the range of $20,000 per month.
That’s important because the town plans to hold both Menard Inc. and the lessee responsible for the maintenance of the building. Menard Inc. is also responsible for the actual land it owns at the location. Ryfa said there have been ongoing issues with the Kmart and surrounding property.
“As far as conditions of the property, we had a meeting with them (Menard Inc.), including our police chief, who oversees code enforcement, our attorney and some town officials,” Ryfa said. “We made it very clear that will not tolerate code violations.”
He noted issues such as long grass and illegal dumping on the site and also broken windows on the Kmart building have been boarded up. Menard Inc. has been issued several code violations, and if the conditions become excessive, it could become a matter for the town’s Unsafe Building Committee to address, Ryfa said. That may be an opportune time to learn who is actually leasing the Kmart building from Menard Inc.
“If the Kmart building is demolished, that means the project is going forward because Kmart is now out of the way,” Ryfa said.
Menard Inc. has removed a strip mall on the east end of the property.
The location still has vital and long-operating outlier stores, including White Castle, Popeye’s, and Jedi’s Garden. The area attracts more business on nights when Avenue 912, a standalone nightclub owned by Griffith Town Councilman Tony Hobson, R-5th, hosts musical acts.
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
