A Target spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday the company’s plans to open a location on the Outer Banks at the site of the old Kmart in Kill Devil Hills.
“We’re excited to bring an easy, safe and convenient shopping experience to new guests in the community with this new Target store,” said Target spokesperson Jill Lewis.
Lewis said the new store will be approximately 80,000 square feet, replacing the 110,000 square foot building that currently occupies the site at 1091 N. Croatan Highway.
That would be about the average size of Target’s smaller-format stores, which the company has been placing in various settings around the country, including adjacent to college campuses such as UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.
The nearest Target to the Outer Banks in southern Chesapeake is almost 126,000 square feet.
The news was first posted Monday on the OBX Island Guys Real Estate Group Facebook page and confirmed by Shane Collins of Outer Banks Blue Realty, who works with the land owners through the Midtown Development Corporation.
The Kmart building will be torn down and the a new Target store designed, the Facebook post said. Where the key players are in the process and when Target may move in are still up in the air. Collins said he couldn’t divulge any more information right now.
“As we get closer to opening the store, we’ll have more specific details to share – including how the shopping experience will be tailored to serve local guests and the grand opening date,” Lewis said.
Kill Devil Hills Mayor Ben Sproul said he hadn’t heard about the project and that no paperwork had yet been filed with the town.
“It’s news to me,” Sproul said.
Kmart owned the building and leased the 14-acre plot of land facing U.S. 158 from the Wright Company Inc., according to real estate records. It’s unclear if that lease is still active.
Norfolk real estate mogul Joan Dalis, who died in February 2019, is listed as the president of the Wright Co. Inc., with Norfolk attorney William Nusbaum as assistant secretary.
Joan Dalis may be best known for her investments in Ward’s Corner, a Norfolk shopping center her second husband, dentist Alexander Martone, built at the northeast corner of the shopping district in 1947. Dalis renovated the shopping center’s exterior to make it more modern and attractive, her obituary reads.
Dalis’ brother is now the property owner, Collins said.
