Star Tribune-article

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January 22, 2011

Inside Track: Project opponents give Target a trimming


Dana Edmunds Photography

 Photo: A local with a lawnmower has expressed opposition to a proposed Target store in Kailua, Hawaii.  The appearance of the crop circle coincided with the area's Woe's Day Parade on Jan. 1.  This year's theme: "Holy Target."




When it comes to opening new stores, Target Corp. is no stranger to neighborhood opposition.

But in the Hawaiian community of Kailua, where the Obamas have spent their December breaks, Target opponents went a clip beyond the typical lashing out in newspaper editorials and meetings with government and business leaders.

They mowed their distaste of the bullseye right into the lawn of a community-owned park.
“We’re a small island community,” said lifelong activist Mollie Foti, who lives in Kailua. “The [shopping center] landowners have decided to maximize potential for profit by turning this into a tourist shopping mecca. A lot of small businesses have already been forced out. If Target comes in, that’ll happen on a big scale.”

Target plans to spend $40 million on a store that would open in 2012, making it the fifth in Hawaii. The Minneapolis-based retailer has purchased the lease agreement from a departing food and merchandise discounter, Don Quixote, and is in the process of negotiating a long-term lease.

A Whole Foods is under construction, and there’s already a Macy’s and Pier One in the center.

But Foti and others worry about the traffic a store like Target will bring to the area, which is accessible only by bridges and narrow roads and “has limited infrastructure,” she said. A state legislator, a neighborhood board and some city leaders are among those raising questions, according to the Honolulu Weekly.

Target said it has taken residents’ complaints to heart. It has reduced the number of driveways on a main drag from five to two, and will install traffic signals, turn lanes and pedestrian crosswalks. The company also is investing in extra landscaping, with native plants, benches and walkways, said spokeswoman Sarah Bakken.

The 130,000-square-foot store is almost 50 percent larger than the aging Don Quixote, but the retailer can’t scale back further because it needs extra space to handle distribution challenges of shipping to Hawaii, Bakken said. The average Target store is 125,000 to 180,000.

Bakken noted that letters in favor of the project also have been printed in local newspapers.

“We see both great support, and some concerns, that always surface,” she said. “That’s a natural part of the process.”