Much of the talk around Target in Detroit has been a planned store in Midtown. We're still waiting on that one, but in the meantime, a distribution, or sortation, center is planned for the old Michigan State Fairgrounds.
According to the Detroit News (paywalled), who first broke the story, the new Target facility will be about 180,000 square feet, and set to open in June 2024. The site of the facility is where the Agricultural Building/Joe Dumars Fieldhouse once sat. That building was recently demolished.
The site for the facility is owned by Sterling Group and Hillwood Enterprises LP.
Crain's reports that the local neighborhood group is disappointed in the current plans for the site. Frank Hammer, a co-chair of the State Fairgrounds Development Coalition, says,
"The idea that the fairgrounds can be turned into this mammoth logistics center ... We have a lot of feelings about that, because the fairgrounds actually plays a very critical role in Detroit and in the region, and the state."
Although the development is larger than the $75 million that would prompt the Community Benefits Ordinance, the developers have not used tax breaks or incentives, so the CBO was not used for this development.
A huge Amazon distribution center is set to have an official ribbon-cutting at the fairgrounds site later this month.
The city owns part of the overall fairgrounds site, where they're building a new transit center.
