Marshall de Hutton | Editor
South Park’s impending TargetExpress may eventually get a 5,000-square-foot next-door neighbor.
Flocke & Avoyer, the commercial real estate firm representing the owner of the Gala Foods property, has begun advertising a ground lease with enough space for a new building on a portion of the northeast corner of the Gala Foods parking lot.
The property owners announced they will shut down the Gala Foods business in mid-October and lease the existing building at 3030 Grape St. to Target Corp., which plans to reopen it in July 2015 as a TargetExpress, a condensed version of a typical Target store.
Steve Avoyer of Flocke & Avoyer, which also handled the lease to Target, said plans for the second building’s construction are still preliminary, estimating that a business would not begin operating in the space until fall 2016 at the earliest.
The announcement follows mixed reactions to Target Corp.’s plans unveiled earlier this month to open a location in South Park. Avoyer said no particular type of business was being solicited to lease the second space.
“We’re trying to get tenants that will fit in with the area, but I have to say, Mr. Imez is a good businessman too, and tenants have to show that they have the good wherewithal to pay the rent and know what they’re doing and all that good stuff too,” Avoyer said.
One page on the Flocke & Avoyer advertisement visualizes a “Shop Building Competition Aerial,” which identifies about a dozen businesses nearby. All are fast food chains or national bank branches.
“This particular owner has been here for 25 years as a businessman, and I know he’s not trying to put anything in there that will be particularly controversial,” Avoyer said.
Katie Keach, spokesperson for Council President Todd Gloria, said regardless of what business moves into the space, Gloria’s office will encourage it to solicit community input.
“I think at this point the concern is just that the community be brought in with anyone proposing to come in, which is best for the community and for the business,” Keach said.
Local architect Laurie Fisher questioned the practicality of splitting the Gala Foods parcel into two separate spaces. She said the second building would require significantly more money, city permitting and review, and a tenant willing to sign on to such a project.
“That’s going to entail way more headaches than just a remodel,” Fisher said.
Fisher and Keach disagree on whether the TargetExpress remodel of Gala Foods will require discretionary review, which would require Target to present its plans to the community. Both said a second building in this space would increase traffic and parking concerns, although it is too early to tell what sort of city or community review would be required for the second building.
Target did not respond to emailed questions by the time of this article’s publication.
