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Moving Target
Retail giant green-lighted for Orange and Trumbull-and now maybe Milford too
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Business New Haven
9/15/2003
By: Melissa Nicefaro
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Is Target coming soon to a Post Road near you?
A judge’s denial of a resident association’s appeal last month cleared the way for the superstore to build a new Orange facility at 25 Boston Post Road.
Just a few miles down Route 1 in Milford, there’s talk that Target is coming to the Westfield Shoppingtown Connecticut Post Mall, though no such plans have been confirmed by either the mall or Target.
And just a few miles from there, on the Trumbull/Stratford line, another Target has been approved for construction on Hawley Lane on the property once occupied by Physicians Health Services.
However, the owner of a neighboring Hawley Lane building has appealed approvals by the Trumbull Planning & Zoning Commission as well as the Inland Wetlands Commission.
Orange First Selectman Mitchell Goldblatt, a steadfast supporter of the Target project, is not concerned the superstore will opt for Milford as opposed to Orange: "I think it’s a better fit. That end of the Post Road needs Target, but Target needs that end of the Post Road. It’s a good fit with the other box stores around it: Best Buy, Sam’s Club and Lowe’s."
Goldblatt, who’s running for re-election in November, says Target does not typically go into malls, but is more often configured as a stand-alone building.
"With the approval on the Trumbull/Stratford line, if you think about your demographics and your marketability and what they’ll draw from the Trumbull/Stratford region, I’m sure there is going to be some overlap as to what they draw from the mall, but a lot less overlap with what they’d draw from the Orange/West Haven line," Goldblatt says. "Because they got the approval there, that is even more reason to me to say they’d prefer not to go to Milford [due to proximity], but I can’t speak for Target."
Target spokesperson Brie Heath says Target is considering Milford in addition to the two approved locations.
"We’re still in the process of getting the right approvals and we’re still interested in having stores in both Milford and Orange," she says.
Speaking for Milford, City Planner Peter Crabtree said he has not seen an application from Target, but a 480,000-square-foot Post Mall expansion has been approved.
"I don’t know if we’ll be part of the mall expansion, we’re still in the process of negotiating and getting the right approvals," Target’s Heath says, "but it is our intent to have stores in both Milford and Orange."
Crabtree calls the mall approval process "very interesting," since it adds an extra layer to the process.
"Heavy hitters are always in a race with other people to sign up prospective leases," he says. "It’s easier for them if they can get an approval from the town without divulging their exact tenant mix, then go back to their tenant and say, ‘The town says we’re all ready to go; we can build,’" Crabtree explains.
"It’s sort of backwards from the way you and I would probably approach it, but like anything else, there’s intense competition and they don’t want to reveal who it is they might be negotiating with, nor does the recipient store want to reveal to other stores where they might be considering."
Westfield Shoppingtown has gained approval for proposed additions and released its site plan — one anchor store will house a 125,000-square-foot building, the same exact size as the proposed Target stores in Orange and Trumbull— in the plan all the spaces are shown empty with tenants to be determined.
Once a project is approved, individual tenants are identified and much seek town approval for their individual floor plan for the portion of the mall that they lease.
Crabtree explains: "It’s like buying a car. Each side has something to hide from the other, except in this case, it’s not just between you and the car dealer, it’s between all the dealers and all the customers because they’re hiding their perspective tenants from competing shopping centers. And they -Target - doesn’t want their competitors to know where they might be going."
Westfield Shoppingtown will seek a minimum percentage of tenant commitments before it launches construction.
"But chances are," Crabtree says, "they’re not going to make a big investment if they don’t have any leases signed at all. Even they don’t play that game."
Goldblatt admits it’s a dynamic and somewhat unpredictable process: "I believe it will be in Orange [that Target locates]. And I’m not just saying that because I’m first selectman; I believe that’s what’s going to happen. But until everything’s signed and they put a shovel in the ground, we can’t say that for absolute sure. I’d say things are looking very, very good for going forward in Orange."
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