The Newmark, a condo building on 2nd & Pike, will be getting a new Target department-store.  A spokeswoman for Target stated that it will be at least a year before it opens as they now start the permitting process and build out the 3-story, 103,000 square-foot commercial space.  Previously leased to Washington Mutual, Target paid $15.5 million for the empty location, and the purchase also included 250 parking stalls.  It wasn’t clear whether or not they will allow any of that parking for patrons, but the article in the Seattle Times did mention:

One Target store in Brooklyn, N.Y., has no dedicated parking. Earlier this month, the chain opened a store in New York’s East Harlem, its first in Manhattan. Target operates stores in downtown Minneapolis and the Chicago Loop, and it also is exploring sites for its first store in San Francisco.

After living downtown for several years now, it is a breath of fresh air to hear a new department store is coming to downtown!  It will certainly broaden downtown residents shopping options rather than having to either drive outside the city, or chip away at your pocket book by paying the premium price you do for shopping at the urban deli/mini-marts where anti-perspiration is $8, a smaller jug of laundry soap is close to $10 or a pack of four AAA batteries is over $6.  Those three items alone rang up at over $20 for me personally just yesterday!

More than anything, it’s just great to see something occupy a significant portion of retail/commercial space.