Topeka beat out two other cities

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jun 14, 2002 by Capital-Journal

The Capital-Journal

Olathe. Topeka. Wichita. The possible locations for a Target distribution center was a short list.

But making the list hasn't necessarily guaranteed success for Topeka at times, said Shawnee County Commissioner Vic Miller, chairman of the Joint Economic Development Organization.

"We've had a lot of prospects in the past and for a variety of reasons, we were eliminated," he said.

To the delight of economic development officials, Target announced Thursday it will begin construction in July on a new distribution center in south Topeka.

The process to win the center didn't happen overnight. Local officials remained hush-hush while they worked behind the scenes. Topeka City Councilwoman Lisa Stubbs, a JEDO board member, said she had no clue about the details of the deal or even the company that members of Go Topeka, the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce or JEDO were dealing with. Miller said it wasn't until late in the process he even knew that local officials were dealing with Target.

Here is how things unfolded:

January 2002: Miller said the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing's Chicago office was contacted by a company that wanted to put a distribution center in Kansas. The state office contacted several communities in Kansas.

Miller said Doug Kinsinger, president of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and Go Topeka, and Mayor Butch Felker and others put together a proposal, but they didn't know that Target was the company.

At about the same time Miller said he found out about the distribution center, Go Topeka requested real estate proposals from property owners and real estate brokers.

Early March: By the time a proposal for the distribution center was put together, Go Topeka --- with the help of KS Commercial --- was able to secure options on land that is between S.W. 53rd and S.W. 57th and from US-75 highway to the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway tracks. Go Topeka had nearly completed the purchase of 200 acres south of Topeka for an industrial and commercial park. The organization was unable to come to an agreement with two of the landowners that in total held seven acres of land.

March 14: The county commission approved using its eminent domain power to acquire the disputed land.

April 14: The Topeka City Council approved a $1.5 million road needed for the development of the business park.

April 19: A Target site team came to Topeka on April 19 to look at the prospective site. Once the site team viewed all of the site possibilities, the team ranked the communities and recommended its top choice to Target's board of directors.

- Wal-Mart to open 40 supercenters in California

Business, page 1B

- Target gets high marks from host cities

page 8A

Go online for expanded coverage of Target's selection of Topeka, including audio interviews and video from KSNT.

www.cjonline.com