St. Albert Centre is set to expand its footprint by 21,000 square feet in the coming months in preparation for the opening of big-box department store Target, says a city report.
The city’s June building permit report says a “base building only” addition has been approved for the east side of the location.
“There’s a permit for the base building, meaning sort of the shell for the building,” said Brian Boddez, manager of building inspection services.
A second permit will be issued in coming weeks for interior improvements of the existing building to match the addition, he said.
According to mall management company Primaris Retail REIT, St. Albert Centre now covers 311,000 square feet.
The Target store will replace Zellers, which is closing in mid-August, and is expected to create between 150 and 200 jobs.
Target Canada spent $1.825 billion in 2011 to acquire the leasehold interests for up to 220 Zellers stores, 189 of which have been acquired to date.
So far, 125 locations have been confirmed across Canada with 15 located in Alberta.
Target Canada confirmed Thursday that the St. Albert location is among the first stores opening in the province.
The St. Albert location is slated to open its doors in spring 2013, along with a location in Sherwood Park and three in Edmonton. Each store will undergo between six and nine months of renovations with a price tag of more than $10 million for each location.
