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On target for mall's anchor?

All signs point to the yuppie discounter for the Shoppes at Park Place, which will open on the old ParkSide mall site.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published February 13, 2005

PINELLAS PARK - Target is playing coy: The company has remained mum since its statement in June that it is "interested" in locating at the former ParkSide mall.

Now evidence is mounting that Target indeed will be one of the anchors when the Shoppes at Park Place opens later this year.

Consider:

Pinellas County records show Target purchased 10 acres of the property at the mall, 7200 U.S. 19 N, in November for about $3.436-million.

Pinellas Park's building division has plans for a new Target store at the mall and has even issued a building permit to the yuppie discounter.

Workers are pouring the concrete pad for the store and a Target construction trailer is on the property, according to city officials.

Newly fabricated signs for the rejuvenated mall have a big red bull's-eye with the word "Target" underneath.

A Target spokeswoman, however, did not return phone messages asking for comment.

Target is not the only company that has submitted plans to the city. Chick-fil-A, which announced last year it would open another restaurant at the Shoppes, has submitted plans.

So have American Signature, Wachovia Bank, Chili's and GameStop, assistant city manager Tom Shevlin said Friday.

American Signature is a furniture store based in Columbus, Ohio. GameStop is a video game store based in Texas.

There's more good news from the mall. The movie theaters will likely reopen sometime in April.

"Yes, the movies are coming back," said John Sabow, director of development for Boulder Venture South LLC, the company that bought the mall and is redeveloping it.

Sabow said the 16-screen cineplex would have opened last month as planned but reconstruction got behind with bad weather last year.

"The hurricanes killed us," Sabow said. The storms turned the site into a virtual swamp for about 120 days.

Although reconstruction got off to a slow start, it has made a distinct difference in the site's appearance. Gone is the blocklike building that stood on the site. Also gone is the hill where the building was perched. The only thing left is the outside of the cineplex, whose canary-colored facade pokes out amid the mounds of black dirt.

It's been a long road to get to this point, Sabow said. Asbestos abatement had to be complete before demolition could begin.

"We had asbestos flooring . . . roofing materials . . . and scattered asbestos throughout," Sabow said. "The mall was then gutted, and the interior finishes were removed down to the block and concrete."

The metal was separated from the concrete and sold as scrap. The concrete was crushed on site in the building that formerly housed Firestone tires. It will be recycled as a base under the parking lot.

While bulldozers have been flattening the land, Thomas Sign & Awning Co. has readied the signs.

The main sign, which will be mounted on the 70-foot-high pylon next to the Park Boulevard overpass, could go up the first week in March, said Jeff Riggins, an account representative with Thomas Sign.

The signs are made of metal with a stucco-like finish. The letters are acrylic, and many of them have LED lighting.

It's "certainly going to be an upgrade from what the mall was previously," Riggins said.

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:07:16]