I reported last year that Qdoba had proposed free-standing restaurant on a pad site in the Best Buy/ Nordstrom's Rack parking lot on the corner of Wadsworth and Alameda.
Well, the plan is apparently dead, killed by Target. The retailer, I've been told, exercised a contractual veto right it holds over any development on the parking lot in question.
If the story I've heard is true, it's really disappointing. As I've said before, there is no shortage of parking in Belmar, and even on weekends when the Target parking lot is full, there's always parking to be had across the street in the covered garage under Whole Foods, or in the multi-story parking garage across from Nordstrom's Rack.
I do know that Target expressed concerns over the construction of the Hyatt House Hotel as well, for the same reason, but was told by the City of Lakewood that building on that surface lot was going forward regardless.
What this tells us is that Target corporate just doesn't get Belmar or New Urbanism.
