174,000-SF SuperTarget to open in RidgeGate

The new SuperTarget store was designed with strict adherence to the RidgeGate design philosophy of merging traditional community values with "hip, urban-style living," says Keith Simon, vice president and development director for RidgeGate. The SuperTarget will be in the Lincoln Commons Retail Village in RidgeGate, which unlike most suburban retail centers, encourages shoppers to walkrather than drive to shops and restaurants.

"This is just the beginning of what will become a stellar line-up of high-end specialty shops and restaurants," says Simon of Coventry Development Corp., RidgeGate's developer. Simon says he and others at Coventry worked closely with Target officials to construct a design that is rarely found in suburban locations and avoids sprawling parking lots by replacing it with a multi-level parking garage. The Target is designed with a two-level front facade that features lower level department store-like elevator/escalator lobbies to take people that park in the lower level of the deck up to the main sales floor.

Also included is a unique system to move loaded carts back down to the lower parking level—the 'Vermaport', a German-made system, locks in on the cart and moves it down along side the escalator then releasing it at the lower level. This system is used in some of Target's two-story stores such as those in Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis. The SuperTarget also features two tower elements with copper Target 'bulls eyes'--believed to be the first in the nation.

A key design element of the retail development is a two-level parking deck that provides parking for both the SuperTarget store and Coventry's 25,000-sf multi-tenant retail building at the eastern edge of the parking deck, where the new retailers are located. The building's lower level includes Ironstone Bank and its drive-through.

Lincoln Commons will eventually include 100,000 sf of office space, and an additional 400,000 sf in retail space with a focus on unique and specialty retailers and restaurants. Other retailers who have signed letters of intent or leases to join the first phase of the Lincoln Commons Retail Village include Starbucks; Ironstone Bank; Village Cleaners; Supercuts; Inta Juice, a full-service juice and smoothie bar; Costa Vida, a fresh Mexican grill; Cingular Wireless; and Campania d'Italia, a Neapolitan-style wood-fire pizza restaurant.