YONKERS - A Target store that was proposed as the anchor for a development project off Austin Avenue will not be built.
For years during a development-approval process, the New Jersey-based Morris Companies claimed that Target would be part of the retail complex that would be built near the Stew Leonard's market, but more than a year after a land deal for the project, construction has not begun.
Kristy Welker, a spokeswoman for Target, said the company has no new-store plans for Yonkers.
"Target is currently focused on small-format store growth in dense urban and suburban neighborhoods, as well as on college campuses," she wrote in an email Friday.
Morris Companies did not respond to several requests for comment about the status of its proposed project off Austin Avenue.
Yonkers spokeswoman Christina Gilmartin declined to address questions about Target, referring the inquiries to Morris Companies.
"The city has been in discussions with Morris Development, who has presented us some interesting development concepts for the site and we look forward to seeing shovels in the ground as soon as practicable," she wrote in an email Tuesday.
In May 2016 Morris Companies reached a deal to buy a site off Austin Avenue controlled by Westchester County and Yonkers for $32 million. Yonkers received $13 million and the county's share was $19 million.
The deal capped 35 years of efforts to develop the property, which in the past was used as a dump. Up to 11 acres of the land is expected to become a public park.
City officials already considered Morris Companies' development concepts in recent years when the City Council rezoned the area to create a special shopping district.
The Austin Avenue rezoning was to allow a 175,000-square-foot store for Target and an 80,000-square-foot, two-story retail complex. Target's typical location size is 120,000 square feet and the company's new small-store push envisions spaces less than half that size.
The smaller sizes are called "flexible formats" and they are a key aspect of the Minneapolis-based retailer’s effort to better compete in an environment where shopping centers are struggling and Amazon is dominating online sales.
Target has 1,816 stores across the United States. This month it expects open New York stores in Port Washington North on Long Island, the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn and in Manhattan's Herald Square.
Target is preparing an overhaul in 2018 and 2019 for 500 of its stores, which will be redesigned to create better shopping experiences, including special entrances for online-order pick-ups.
SOURCE: The Journal News | LoHud.com
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2017/10/06/target-wont-open-yonkers-store/739171001/
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