Target Breaks Ground in Yonkers, New York

The city of Yonkers is about to get its first-ever Target store: The retailer held a March 4 groundbreaking ceremony for a 130,000-square-foot location within Cross County Center, one of the nation’s first open-air shopping centers. Target recently signed a 40-year retail lease with Cross County Center — the largest retail lease transaction in the United States during the pandemic — to occupy space at what was once the site of a four-story Sears store that closed in summer 2019. The new Target is scheduled to open in 2022.

"Yonkers has hit the mark!” said the city’s mayor, Mike Spano. “We continue to be a leader and a home to successful national retailers like Target that invest here to further diversify their robust business. As Yonkers welcomes Target, we also welcome more jobs and more opportunities to grow our economy.”

"As our local and state economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic, we must work closely with businesses to build back stronger,” noted State Sen. Shelley B. Mayer. “The addition of Target to Cross County Center will bring in needed jobs, which strengthens the role of workers, increases revenue and adds a nationally respected retailer to a Yonkers landmark.”

As well as the Target lease, apparel retailer H&M recently signed a 10-year renewal to occupy 28,000 square feet and is currently in the midst of a $5 million remodel to incorporate its upscale SOHO concept; the store is slated to reopen later this month. The Target and H&M leases are the first steps in a multiphase plan to further develop Cross County Center’s “town square” concept, creating safe and healthy spaces amid an open-air design.

Jointly owned by Marx Realty and Benenson Capital Partners, 1,150,000-square-foot Cross County Center is located at the intersection of Cross County Parkway and I-87, attracting more than 11 million visitors annually from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

In reporting its fourth quarter sales earlier this month, Target said that it will invest $4 billion annually over the next several years to open new stores and cut delivery times for online orders. The retailer also revealed plans to open 30 to 40 new stores each year, some of them near college campuses and in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Portland.

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. is No. 7 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, with more than 1,900 locations.