Would Be SF’s First
Like many other people and things from Minnesota, Target is interested in moving to San Francisco.
Everybody’s favorite slightly-upscale big box retailer is eying a vacant property in the City
Center Mall at Masonic and Geary (was once a Sears, most recently a Mervyn’s), according to Supervisor Eric Mar’s office.
This isn’t the first time Target’s made overtures towards San Francisco: rumors were flying hot and heavy last October that a floor of the Metreon might be going red and white, but not much has been said on the issue since mid-November.
Mar met with representatives from Target and from land use law firm Reuben and Junius, firm staffers told the Appeal on Friday. James Reuben, the firm’s main partner and head attorney on the project, was traveling for the holiday weekend and not available to provide additional details.
Ditto a Target spokeswoman, although the Minnesota cheerfulness with which she dispensed the “Sorry, no details for you, Fourth of July” warmed this cynic’s heart.
Any potential deal is still some ways off from being finalized, Mar’s people told the Appeal. An initial meeting was held on June 15, wherein Target’s folks asked what kind of store would be appropriate for the area.
One that wouldn’t threaten the mom-and-pop merchants in the area, for starters. Ergo, the Target store would be well advised to not have a florist nor a tire shop, two kinds of local retail seen on the Geary Boulevard/Masonic Avenue corridor. Though one can buy flowers at the Masonic Avenue Trader Joes, the Appeal is almost certain.
A likely existing Bay Area Target location after which a Geary/Masonic store would be modeled is the store in Colma, according to Mar’s office.
