Woodbury SuperTarget plan back before city

Talk about it

Target Corp. put a bull's-eye on spring 2011 for a local SuperTarget store opening.

The retailer and a developer are back before the city with a slightly revised plan for a new store in the Commerce Hill development on the east side of Woodbury. An earlier proposal was sidelined amid the economic downturn.

Ongoing planning and an attractive building location may have helped to spur the development even in a sluggish economy.

The latest plan calls for a SuperTarget of 175,000 square feet – 10,000 square feet smaller than the earlier proposal -- and a full grocery section. It would serve as the anchor tenant of a larger commercial development west of Woodbury Drive and north of Tamarack Road.

Target planned to meet with development site neighbors at a Tuesday informational meeting, and the Woodbury Planning Commission is expected to review the development plan March 1. The City Council could vote on the project March 24, said Dwight Picha, Woodbury' community development director.

Paul Maenner and Dan Wozniak of Woodbury Developers, which owns the site, said the goal is to open the SuperTarget store in spring of 2011. They have an agreement in place with Target, which would assume ownership of the store site and building, Maenner said. Construction is planned to start this spring.

A Target spokesman confirmed that Target submitted a revised development plan to the city, but declined to discuss details.

The SuperTarget proposal is not new to Woodbury. The City Council initially rejected a store plan in 2008 because of infrastructure and traffic concerns. Months alter, after those issues were resolved, council members backed the project. Then, during the recession early last year, Target idled the project.

Woodbury Developers last fall obtained a one-year city permit extension for the project. At that time, the retailer said it had no immediate plans for a new Target store in Minnesota, but remained interested in Woodbury.

Beyond the new construction, Target is expected to soon submit plans for a renovation of the existing Greatland store at Woodbury Village, said Melissa Douglas, Woodbury senior planner.

"I take it as a sign that we're still a great retail location, because they're not doing many (new) stores," Douglas said of Target's activity.

The proposed SuperTarget site may be ideal for a retailer offering a full grocery section, Douglas said. A key success indicator for retail is residential housing density around a development site, she said. Much of the area surrounding the proposed SuperTarget site already is developed. Plus, there is not a large grocery store on the east side of Woodbury.

Maenner acknowledged those benefits.

"There are established fundamentals that create good retail opportunity there," he said.

The cost to make road improvements and traffic changes related to the SuperTarget project would be paid for by the developers, not assessed to area landowners.

In addition to the SuperTarget store, Woodbury Developers envisions a series of smaller retail, restaurant and office buildings near the large retailer on the 40-acre site.

Maenner and Wozniak said businesses have expressed interest in locating near a SuperTarget. So if that project moves forward as planned, the developers will attempt to get some of the smaller retail or restaurant projects under way yet this year.

"We have other land to develop, and we intend to do that," Maenner said.

Tags: woodbury city council, local news, supertarget, business