excerpt from Site Selection Magazine

WEEK OF AUGUST 20, 2001

PROJECT ON SHORT FUSE

CEDAR FALLS, IOWA, LANDS TARGET'S 900-EMPLOYEE DISTRIBUTION CENTER

By Jack Lyne, Site Selection Executive Editor of Interactive Publishing

CEDAR FALLS, IOWA -- Fast-expanding Target www.target.com  has picked Cedar Falls, Iowa for a mammoth 900 employee distribution center.  Target's 1.35 million-sq.ft. (121,500-sq.-m) facility is on the fast track, with construction scheduled to start in September.  Cedar Falls' ability to facilitate the short-fuse project was a major reason for its win over a short list that included Clear Lake and Mason City, Iowa and North Mankato, Minn.  Target also looked at sites in "several surrounding states," company officials said.

"We selected the Cedar Falls site because of the area's excellent highway access and transportation costs, its work force, and its quality of life," said Target spokesperson Kristin Jahnke.  Jahnke also cited "city officials" responsiveness in getting the project done and their capacity to meet our schedule.  And the Cedar Falls site was ready to develop."  

Target eliminated North Mankato after it found it couldn't quickly develop the local site, officials reported.  

Target's announcement marks the biggest industrial or commercial construction project in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro in 20 years.  Built in 1980, John Deere's 2 million square foot (180,000-sq.-m).  Target's US$45 million facility will rise on a 133 acre (53.2-hectare) site in  southwest Cedar Falls, just west of the city-owned Cedar Falls Industrial Park.

Study Validates Labor Supply

Obviously, a large labor pool was a major concern for the 900 employee facility. With 128,000 residents, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro was the most populous short-list contender.  The metro buttressed its labor credentials with a recently completed study of work-force availability.  Conducted by the University of Northern Iowa's Institute for Decision Making, the study found that 27 percent of currently employed local residents would be "willing to change employment under the right conditions."  Target's wage meet one of those "right conditions."  

Target spurred a labor flood when its Waterloo store that opened in 1982 drew 3,000 applicants for some 150 jobs.  The store recently doubled its size as it was expanded into a 180,000-sq.-ft, 300 employee (16,200-sq.-m.) SuperTarget.  The SuperTarget, which includes Waterloo's first-ever Starbucks, opened only a week before the Cedar Falls announcement.  

Satisfying the Speed Need

Target's ambitious expansion plans made speed essential.  The slowed economy is giving a business bump up to the Minneapolis-based company's 1,348 stores in 46 U.S. states.  With its more upscale merchandise than rivals Wal-Mart and Kmart, Target is drawing customers who've previously shopped at more pricey department stores.  Eager to capitalize, Target is opening 33 new stores this year, a third of them SuperTargets on average spanning 170,000 sq. ft. (15,300-sq.-m.).

The company is also rapidly expanding its distribution network.  Other centers are under construction in Kalamazoo, Mich. and Phoenix, while a Huntsville, Ala., center just opened.  The Cedar Falls City Council accommodated the fast-track schedule for Target's 13th distribution center by rezoning the site from agricultural to light industrial.  The council suspended the requirement to approve rezoning at three successive meetings.  The zoning change came at about the same time that Target eliminated North Mankato.

"I'd have kissed....on the courthouse steps at high noon to get this,"  Councilman Stan Smith told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. 

Target also lauded its collaborative project support. Said Jahnke, "Target and Ryan Cos. (the project's general contractor) were very impressed with the teamwork demonstrated by the city,  Cedar Valley Economic Development Corp. and the Iowa Department of Economic Development........

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