Target says deal for Detroit location is dead, but developer disagrees

[Richard]

Entirely predictable. Target is in the process of closing several locations in major urban centers including in New York and San Francisco due to high retail theft. And those are locations which probably generate far greater revenue per square foot than the proposed Detroit store ever would.

Until crime is under control, don't expect Target to open up in Detroit.

I have not seen reports of what is happening in those cities,happening in Detroit,if it was it would be all over the national news 24/7 because it is Detroit.

We are in a recession and companies that expanded to take advantage of the last 10 years of good returns are now tightening their belts everywhere,it’s just the cycle,it will pass.

Target is saying the deal is dead,the building owner says,you have a lease,he does not care if they sell one candy bar as long as he gets paid.

But thats the situation that you do not want,because Target can sit on that location,pay their lease which never allows anybody else to open in that spot,so it stays empty.

Because those anchor tenants have a lease for 10-20-30 years and they may close that location,but they still keep the lease and let it sit empty so the competition cannot establish there.

That is a part of their value as a company,not that they are paying rent and keeping the space empty it becomes a loss,that space has a marketable value per sqft,so on the books it is a asset,it does not matter if they do not sell anything at a certain point.

We already see what happens to malls etc that lose their anchor tenants,they become dead pieces of real estate.

Krogers is expanding and closing stores in Michigan,but the thing is,where I am at there are no Krogers,but you see their trucks making deliveries everywhere,I am not sure what their impact is on other brick and mortar stores locally but a lot of these supermarkets may be taking a step back and seeing if the grocery delivery has the same impact as online shopping like everything else.

Win-Dixie was a long established super market in Florida,for decades,they were bought out by Aldi which is also planning expansion in Michigan.

It seems like supermarket chains are like the banks and gas stations,every ten years they do a major reshuffling of brands and names.

I agree crime and what is happening,not so much the theft but look at what has happened in the last month with the major brawls at the malls,that element has destroyed many a mall.

But in this case it a smaller footprint and easier to manage and control.

I had to fly out to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago,every product in the store I went to was behind plexiglass,this was a major chain box store,I cannot even fathom wanting to live like that let alone operate a business under those conditions.

I have been in 3rd world craphole countries that did not go to those extremes.

Any urban environment has a level of violence,but again I am not seeing those extremes coming out of Detroit.

Detroit has its issues but from an outsiders view it has a lot of redeeming qualities and potential and given the the choice of San Francisco or Detroit,I would pick Detroit,outside of my coffee cup from Alcatraz which was a cool visit in-between my tasks,no way in hell I would even think about actually living there.