Minneapolis-based Target Corp. will do just that as part of a 190,000-sf redevelopment, which includes building on to a vacant Montgomery Wards department store, in the Addison Mall on the city's Northwest Side.

The project involves adding approximately 50,000 sf on two floors, according to the city's department of planning and development. The result, though, will be a new store with Target's distinctive design features in a rectangular shape, senior site development manager Forrest E. Russell tells GlobeSt.com.

Russell says the retailer hopes to open the store's doors in October 2003. Although the plan commission issued a favorable recommendation to a redevelopment plan Thursday that adds 1.2 acres to the southern end of the shopping center, the project still has to go through the permit process, Russell notes.

In addition to an expanded store with a facelift, Target Corp. also is building a three-level parking garage attached to the store.

The department of planning and development reports "substantial modifications" were made by Target Corp., including ground-level landscaping and improving the intersection at Addison Street and Sacramento Avenue.

After acquiring the store from bankrupt Montgomery Wards in 2001, Target Corp. struck a lease deal with Commonwealth Edison for the southern portion of the property, now used by the utility as a storage yard.