Popular hardware store eyes new Johnson County location in this growing shopping center

Westlake Ace Hardware is eyeing a new location in Johnson County, potentially in an expanding Shawnee shopping center.

Plans approved by the Shawnee Planning Commission show renderings of a new Westlake Ace Hardware store as part of the Monticello Center expansion.

The shopping center will add several commercial buildings to the west of the center, near Shawnee Mission Parkway at Hilltop Drive. According to development plans, the expansion includes three retail buildings.

No other tenants were named at the meeting.

Tom Mentzer, a spokesman for Westlake, said the company is pursuing opportunities at that location, but nothing has been finalized yet. Westlake would share its building with other tenants.

Lenexa-based Westlake has 30 stores in the area. It recently opened a location at 6327 W. 119th St., in the former Sears Home & Life store. Shortly before that, it opened a spot at 1185 W. Santa Fe St. in Olathe.

Westlake will close its Kansas City, Kansas, store at 7523 State Ave. at the end of the year.

In September, developer David Christie said he intended to bring Westlake to the 135th Street and Mur Len Road shopping center in Olathe. Its location at 120 N. Clairborne Road may be displaced thanks to the Interstate 35 and Santa Fe corridor expansion.