Target, the retail giant rumored for some time to be coming to Moscow, has delivered plans to the city for a store at the Palouse Mall.
Bill Belknap, Moscow deputy city supervisor of community planning and design, indicated this morning in an email that his office received the plans.
This morning, Belknap said the store will be approximately 60,000 square feet in size. That includes 20,000 square feet of space added to the west end of the former Macy’s space. The city could issue a permit for the space’s exterior renovation in as soon as two weeks. At this point, the city has only received the building plans and the city is not yet aware of when Target plans to open the store.
Late last month, the former Macy’s department store on the west end of the Palouse Mall appeared to be under construction for a new tenant, with large piles of construction debris being moved from the space into the parking lot.
Rumors that the general merchandise big-box chain was opening a store swirled, and Target officials did not dispel that rumor, but nor did they confirm it at the time.
“At Target, we continuously explore possible locations for new stores, including in the Moscow area,” according to an email from a Target spokesperson in August. “We are currently focused on new store growth with our small-format stores, which are smaller than our general merchandise Target stores and are located in dense urban and suburban neighborhoods as well as near college campuses. I can tell you we are pursuing the opportunity to reach guests in the area, but at this time, we’re not at a point where we can share any new store plans.”
Justin Rasmussen, a broker at Kiemle Hagood in Moscow, said at the time it had long been rumored that Target was opening a store in Moscow, specifically at the Palouse Mall. Rasmussen said Target officials did a market tour in Moscow about two years ago. At that point, they were only interested in opening a small-format store, the type mentioned in the Target email.
Macy’s served many years as the anchor store of Palouse Mall. It employed 47 people, according to a news release from Macy’s in 2016 at the time of closure.
