A new home improvement store could be headed to Hempfield, pending township approval, taking the spot of the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center.
If plans for the site are approved, the hotel and former Westmoreland Athletic Club that closed in 2015, located near Westmoreland Mall, would be torn down to make way for Menards. The Wisconsin-based chain has over 300 locations in 14 Midwestern states, the closest being in Ohio.
“I think it’s very exciting to see continued commercial investment in our region and in our township,” said Hempfield Supervisor Doug Weimer. “In light of the downturn in commercial businesses recently, this is definitely a bright spot so I’m very happy to see that there’s still an interest in investing in Hempfield Township.”
According to the Menards website, there are no store locations in Pennsylvania, although there is a 200,000-square-foot location being built in South Union Township, Fayette County, The Herald-Standard reported in September.
That is almost double the size of Lowe’s and Home Depot home improvement stores, both which have locations in Hempfield. Some Menards locations, however, offer grocery, clothing, jewelry, furniture and other goods not typically offered at traditional home improvement stores. It was not clear if the Hempfield store could offer those services.
Menards typically invests $10 million into new stores, Tom O’Neil, a Menards real estate representative told The Herald-Standard, resulting in 125 to 150 new jobs. He said Menards acts as a real estate developer, tiering properties and setting them up in a subdivision plan to “whatever retail or restaurant or financial institution might want to locate in front of us,” the newspaper reported.
O’Neil did not return calls for comment.
“This is a big change for the area, but it is exciting to see some new growth in the township,” said Patrick Karnash, director of planning and zoning for the township. “With the addition of the Live! Casino and AHN Hospital, we are excited for the transition and growth of the Route 30 corridor.”
Specific plans for the site, including land acquisitions, will be reviewed by the township’s planning commission Wednesday. If plans are approved, they will be sent to the board of supervisors for technical review.
Jeff Abbott, spokesman for Menards, declined to comment on the project.
Officials with the Ramada hotel were not immediately available for comment Friday evening.
“The large banquet facility there will be missed,” Weimer said. “I’m sure that if there is still a need for such a large gathering space in this new era of covid, a facility such as that will come to our region in the near future.”
The hotel has hosted a myriad of events over the years, including the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce State of the County luncheon, job fairs and other events. Chad Amond, president and CEO of the chamber, said the site was ideal due to the large number of people who could attend events.
“We are sorry to hear that the largest banquet center in central Westmoreland County is potentially going to close,” Amond said. “With our chamber being the largest chamber in Westmoreland County and one of the largest chambers in the Commonwealth, we have had very many big events at the Ramada for the past few decades.”
The chamber is vying for a convention center or major banquet center to be built in the county, Amond said.
Wednesday’s planning commission starts at 6 p.m. in the township’s municipal building, 1132 Woodward Dr.
“If it is all approved then I believe that you’ll see development up there in the very near future,” Weimer said.
Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Local | Top Stories | Westmoreland
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