STERLING – Menards plans to convert its former retail building at 3800 E. Lincolnway into a warehouse and distribution center, local leaders say.

A two-phase project is planned for the vacant building, Whiteside County Enterprise Zone Administrator Betty Steinert said in a letter to Rock Falls Mayor David Blanton and City Clerk Bill Wescott. (Rock Falls voted Tuesday to expand the Whiteside County Enterprise Zone to include the site; Sterling is set to vote at the Sept. 17 council meeting.)

Phase 1 calls for converting the existing 145,000-square-foot building and adding a 3,120-square-foot addition, to be used as a warehouse and distribution center from which specialty furniture or other items will be shipped, Steinert said.