Plans for a Target store in Cabrini-Green are falling into place as the retail giant recently anted up its half of a land-swap agreement with the Chicago Housing Authority.

Last week, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Minneapolis-based Target Corp. recently delivered a piece of land to CHA in exchange for a nearby parcel on the city’s Near North Side.

According to the article, Target bought the parcel, located at 1317 N. Clybourn Ave., from Structured Development LLC for $8.8 million. Structured currently owns a number of properties on and around the Clybourn corridor, some of which were pulled into a foreclosure suit last year.

A representative from Target declined to comment on the deal, but CHA spokesperson Matt Aguilar confirmed that the agency obtained the Clybourn property from the company in December.

The Clybourn property sits on the former site of the White Way Sign & Maintenance Co., a custom sign manufacturer founded in 1916 that specializes in theatre marquees.

As per the land-swap agreement, Aguilar said that the White Way property was “equivalent in size and … appraised at or above the appraised value of the CHA land.”

CHA had identified several vacant parcels in the Cabrini area for Target to consider for purchasing. The company, in turn, “conducted its due diligence on various parcels and presented those parcels to CHA for acceptance,” he said.

Aguilar did not give specifics on CHA’s plans for the property, but stated that the agency is convening with a working group and urban planners “to guide the future of the site which will be determined following a developer selection and master planning process.”

The swap brings Target one step closer to realizing its goal of developing a 150,000-square-foot retail store at the 3.6-acre former CHA property.

The parcel, located at the corner of Larrabee and Division streets, was once the site of the William Green Homes, a collection of high-rise public housing developments built in the early 1960s which came to be regarded by many as a symbolic failure in the policies and execution of government-provided housing. CHA systematically demolished the Green Homes buildings over the past decade, citing increased safety concerns and maintenance costs at the high-rises.

Designs for the three-story Target building — unveiled by company representatives at a city council hearing last summer — include a 318-space internal parking garage, a lock-up area for 50 bicycles, plans for widened sidewalks along Division, a green roof and perimeter landscaping on the property. The building will also contain a 35,000-square-foot warehouse space on the third level.

CHA announced its plans to trade the corner site to Target in early 2011, just months after the last Green Homes development was razed. During the rezoning process for the site, Target stated that it would reserve 75 jobs at the new store for public housing residents in the area.

The store’s arrival has garnered general approval from condo associations and neighborhood groups in the area, as well with Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), who has hailed the development as a tax generator and a job creator in Cabrini.

But not everyone has welcomed the retailer. Leadership among the public housing residents who have stayed in the area has called foul on CHA’s decision to hand over the land to Target, stating that the former high-rise properties should have been used for future public housing projects.

“It makes me think that all that monkey business about getting those [William] Green Homes buildings closed down due to safety concerns … was all a big show,” said Maurice Edwards, vice president of the Cabrini’s resident-led Local Advisory Council.

In 2000, a federal judge mandated that CHA is required to build at least 700 public housing units and 296 Section 8 dwellings as part of the redevelopment of Cabrini, replacing the 1,324 agency-owned homes that had once been available in the area.

With the pending completion of the second phase of the mixed-income Parkside of Old Town project, located southeast from the Target site, the agency will have brought Cabrini’s public housing count up to 525 units at the Cabrini properties. CHA expects to deliver 23 of those residences in 2012, according to the agency’s most recent report for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Moving To Work plan.

Edwards said that CHA did indicate to tenant leadership that the White Way property would be the site of a residential development. But still, he said, the news was bittersweet.

“The point is, Target is coming to town with 75 jobs for the residents, but we’re still behind 300 or 400 public housing units,” he said.

Target has stated that work on the retail project is expected to start this year, with a potential opening in 2013.

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By Chris from Old Town
Posted: 02/10/2012 10:04 PM

Getting a Target store in the neighborhood will be a big convenience but I fear we\\\'ll have major traffic. Are there any plans to widen the two bridges on Division between Halsted and the Kennedy?

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By Chris from Old Town
Posted: 02/10/2012 10:03 PM

Getting a Target store in the neighborhood will be a big convenience but I fear we\'ll have major traffic. Are there any plans to widen the two bridges on Division between Halsted and the Kennedy?

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By Chris from Old Town
Posted: 02/10/2012 10:03 PM

Getting a Target store in the neighborhood will be a big convenience but I fear we'll have major traffic. Are there any plans to widen the two bridges on Division between Halsted and the Kennedy?