Downtown Target store set to open in March of 2013

KOIN:

It’s a bull's-eye for the city of Portland and Target, as the long rumored downtown box store formally announced its 2013 opening date.With demolition already underway outside the window at Jake’s Grill, where the announcement took place, Target officials along with Mayor Sam Adams and the Naito family heralded the arrival of the store as a game changer for the downtown core.Opening in March of next year under the City Target brand, the store will be 89,000 square feet of space geared toward city dwellers and out-of-towners.It will also bring with it up to 200 full- and part-time jobs.At today’s event, Adams commended Target for being the only company willing to take on the task of designing and opening a store inside the old Historic Galleria building. "This partnership is delivering on improvements and actions for downtown Portland to make Yamhill-Morrison the premier retail street in the Pacific Northwest,” the mayor said.Owned by the Bill Naito Corporation, the building is already home to two cooking schools and a Brooks Brothers store, but renovating to historic design codes was more than what many wanted to take on, the mayor said."We don't tailor fit the location to fit Target, we tailor Target to fit the location," said the head of Target Northwest, Bill Frerichs.The store's arrival to the soon-to-be-named “Pioneer District” also plays into the city’s desire to recreate the shopping experience in the downtown core.Built on two and a half levels, the store will have both a pharmacy and a Starbucks inside. It will be the sixth City Target in the nation, following stores in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and one yet to be named.With the store not opening for another year, job hunters will have to wait a bit, too. Frerichs said the company will begin accepting applications about three months prior to the opening.

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