Menards would like to tear down its existing Richfield store and the former Jun Bo restaurant and put in their place a two-story retail store, warehouse and lumber yard much like the company's new facility in Eden Prairie.

Theron Berg, Menards' real estate manager for acquisitions and dispositions, told a special joint meeting of the Richfield City Council and the city's Planning Commission Tuesday evening that the project could get under way next year if its plans are approved.

The site plan presented to the city shows a parking lot on the western third of the combined Mendards and Jun Bo properties facing Nicollet Avenue from the I-494 service road to 77th Street East. The 413,010-square-foot store would have its entrance on the parking lot and occupy the middle third of the property. A warehouse area and loading dock would fill the corner of Second Avenue South and 77th Street East.

Council and planning commission members and members of the city staff expressed support for the project but raised several concerns about the plans:
- The expansion doesn't conform to the current comprehensive plan for the area
- Parking entrances and exits at the four corners of the parking lot are problematic
- Some elements of the building design were criticized, particularly plans for "fake" windows and a long stretch of wall without an entrance facing 77th Street
- There isn't a safe way to cross the parking lot on foot from the bus stop on Nicollet and no provision for bicycle parking
- The Burger King restaurant in the southeast corner of the project area would be isolated.

Issuing a conditional use permit for the project was offered during discussion as one solution to the nonconforming-use issue. Public hearings about the project will be required for the plan to move ahead.