Target, developers buy Bronx Postal Service building for $35M

[Updated at 4:36 p.m.] Big-box retailer Target quietly partnered with two local developers to purchase a 7.9-acre United States Postal Service site in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, for $35.2 million, where they plan to build a 300,000-square-foot mall.

The acquisition of the site at 815 Hutchinson River Parkway at Lafayette Avenue went into contract in November and closed Feb. 11, city property records published last Wednesday show. The owner was listed as Lafayette Nominee Owner LLC, with an address at Target’s corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minn.

Target joined with retail developers PA Associates, based in Midtown and Simone Development, based in Westchester, to buy the site, Paul Slayton, a principal with PA Associates, said.

“We plan to build about 300,000 square feet of retail,” he said.

Target would own its own portion as a condominium, and the rest would be leased to other tenants.

Target’s purchase comes at a time when there is enormous scrutiny over Wal-Mart Stores opening its first store in New York City. Target currently has two locations in the Bronx, in Riverdale and in the Bronx Terminal Market in the South Bronx.

PA Associates has partnered to build other retail malls, such as River Plaza in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, and is working on a 50,000-square-foot retail building at City Point, in Downtown Brooklyn, that is part of a mixed-use project that calls for 1.5 million square feet of development.

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The 7.9-acre property currently has a 369,000-square-foot building on it, with rights to build up to 687,750 square feet, PropertyShark.com data shows.

Target declined to comment.

Postal Service spokesperson Darleen Reid confirmed the sale, and added that the property, which had been used as an equipment transfer station for the metro area, has been closed since September 2010. Employees there were reassigned to vacant positions in New York and New Jersey, she said.

Peter Ripka, a partner with brokerage Ripco Real Estate, represents Target in the metro area, but was unavailable to comment.

Retail broker Chase Welles, an executive vice president of Northwest Atlantic Real Estate, who represents several big-box clients, but was not involved in this sale, said there are no similarly-sized retail locations in the area.

“I think it is going to be one of the most significant retail destinations in the southeast Bronx,” he said.