Work is underway for two new Wal-Marts and a Target in Dakota County.
Target broke ground in late October on a 134,000-square-foot store northwest of Robert Trail and Hwy. 55 in Inver Grove Heights, said Greg Munson, vice president of McGough Construction, the store builder.
The 17.5-acre project is part of the Argenta Hills retail and residential development, which had been stalled since 2008 when Target postponed construction of the store. The new store, expected to open in July, will have a grocery section, pharmacy and clinic, Munson said. He said developer IGH Investment has started leasing space in Main Street Shops, another 20,000 square feet of retail space to be built just west of Target.
It will be the eighth Target in Dakota County.
Wal-Mart has five stores in the county and is building two more, each about 150,000 square feet. The new Burnsville and Lakeville stores will both have a pharmacy, garden and tire centers, and are scheduled to open before the holidays next fall, city officials said.
The 28-acre Burnsville location, former site of Holnam Portland Cement, includes 18 acres for the Wal-Mart and an 8.6-acre parcel, steep and wooded, that Wal-Mart agreed to place in a conservation easement, said city planner Chris Slania. He said the project is valued at $12 million on the building permit. The site is at the southwest corner of River Ridge Boulevard and Cliff Road, east of Interstate 35W near the Minnesota River bottoms.
The Wal-Mart site in Lakeville is about half a mile northwest of the County Road 70 interchange on I-35. The store will sit on about 16 acres near Keokuk Avenue and 207th Street, across from the Lakeville 21 Theatre on Keokuk. It's expected to open by September 2012.
Santa cuts the ribbon
