Target under construction – in D’Iberville

Well, if you need your Target fix while you’re on the Gulf Coast, you’ll have this to look forward to. With the economy – and Target’s results- going tumbling – this is a small spark.

Tupelo, however, will have to wait awhile longer before getting a Target, unless there’s a big turnaround fast.

Here’s news about the D’Iberville Target, courtesy of the Sun-Herald:

Target is officially under construction in D’Iberville.

“We’ve delivered the pad to them,” reported Jennifer Greer, project manager for developer CBL & Associates Properties, the Chattanooga, Tenn., firm that is building The Promenade shopping complex.

At Tuesday’s D’Iberville Council meeting, Greer reported that the construction trailer for the Target store is onsite. “They’re under construction,” she said, and the concrete walls will go up fast, as they already are for Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Marshalls, Michael’s and some of the smaller stores. The concrete pads for the restaurants are scheduled to be poured in March and The Promenade will open in October, in time for holiday shopping.

“People are excited about it,” Greer said.

City Manager Richard Rose said he had someone ask him this week if Target is coming to D’Iberville. “We need a sign,” he said. “We need a bull’s-eye,” the store’s trademark.

To bring more development and Smart Growth to D’Iberville, the council hired Kimberly Compton on a short-term contract to develop and implement the city’s economic development strategy.

A Coast native, she most recently was research director at Louisiana Department of Economic Development and also served as director of the Economic Development Resource Center at University of Southern Mississippi and deputy director or the Harrison County Development Commission.

The city has the plans to create a town center and waterfront attractions and City Planner Jeff Taylor said Compton was hired, “To make sure the numbers work.”

By April or May he said Compton will have some answers to the city’s question, “Is the dream going to work?”

The dream includes a French Market Square on Central Avenue, with balconies and other architecture reminiscent of New Orleans. Later this month the council will consider passing a Smart Growth plan that will create a mixed-use area in the downtown with multifamily housing where people can live and shop close to work.

D’Iberville is pursuing developers considering themed attractions that will anchor the downtown and waterfront as a major destination.