The Davis Square Community

Get your eyes on the Davis Square Neighborhood Plan draft! Four years of community ideas, involvement, and input have led us here. Now, join the SomervillebyDesign planning team for an open house-style meeting to see the highlights.

Monday, April 30th, 6 pm
Somerville Baptist Church
31 College Avenue

You can learn more at www.somervillebydesign.com/neighborhoods/davis

Aaron Hemquist, Senior Development Manager for Real Estate at Target Corporation in Minneapolis, presented the company’s plans for a Porter Square store at tonight’s meeting of the Porter Square Neighbors Association.

This will be a “small-format” Target store. At 28,000 square feet it will be 5000 sq ft larger than the Central Square store, but only 20% of a full-size Target. (For comparison, Everett is 140,000, Watertown 160,000, Somerville 94,000.)

Target will take up all of the first-floor space formerly occupied by Walgreens, and the building’s entire second floor (including what was a restaurant space) with the exception of Parrelli Optical, which will remain in place. Pot Belly, Sprint, and Anna’s Taqueria will remain where they are on the first floor.

The public stairway and escalator between the first and second floors have bene removed, so the only access to Parrelli will be via an elevator or the back stairs. Target will use the escalator and elevator that Walgreens installed to get between its first and second floors. Target has no current plans to expand to the currently vacant basement.

Target is opening other small-format stores this year in Roslindale, Medford, Stoneham, and Burlington, MA.

The store will open in October 2018. The product mix will be flexible, with the site team able to adjust it to local demand. The store will not have a CVS pharmacy counter or a Starbucks. It will be open from 8 am to 11 pm.

There is a loading dock behind the store, accessed from White Street. Deliveries will be made with small trucks, not semis.

The store will have 40-50 employees.

Of the 62 spaces in the garage, 40 will be reserved for Target customers and employees.

Contact info from Aaron Hemquist’s business card: aaron.hemquist@target.com, 612-761-5670, cell 612-559-2655,
1000 Nicollet Mall, TPN-12L, Minneapolis, MN 55403.

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EDIT: After I sent him these notes, Aaron e-mailed me these clarifications and corrections:

Stoneham opened in July 2017

The smaller trucks may or may not be considered semi-trucks. We often use semi-trucks with shorter trailers.

One other thing to note is that employment numbers can flex, so the 40-50 is an estimate.

I got a sneak-preview tour of the new bfresh grocery store at 240 Elm Street, where workers are busy putting the finishing touches on, stocking, and preparing to open. They told me the tentative opening date will be Friday, February 24. Hours will be 7 am to 10 pm every day.

The front half of the store is devloted to fresh produce, prepared foods, salads, soups, and a deli counter, while the back half will have packaged food.

The adjoining Dunkin Donuts will share a seating area with bfresh and will open around the same date.