Harrison is getting its own retail heavyweight bout. Developer Midland Atlantic is moving from paperwork to bulldozers, filing pre-construction notices for a 128,000-square-foot Target and surrounding retail on about 22 acres along Harrison Avenue, directly across from the city’s Kroger. The fresh filings and speedy city approvals clear a path for construction to start this year.
What the filings show
The commencement notice, submitted on Feb. 13 and signed by John Silverman, Midland Atlantic’s co-founder and managing principal, lists site grading, utility installation and building-pad construction as the first wave of work. The documents call for a roughly 128,000-square-foot Target as the anchor tenant on a 22-acre parcel along Harrison Avenue, land that was still being used as farmland as recently as early 2026, according to Local 12.
Council sign-off and schedule
Harrison City Council has already laid the legal groundwork, adopting a development agreement and a tax-increment financing reimbursement measure for the Harrison Avenue project across from Kroger, according to Eagle Country 99.3. Council approved the ordinance in December with an emergency clause that allowed the deal to move much faster than usual.
During those discussions, the developer told council members that Target is aiming for an October 2027 opening. “We moved mountains in four months for a process that should have taken a year,” Silverman told council, according to the station.
Why developers picked Harrison
Developers say Harrison’s mix of developable land and rapid population growth has turned the city into prime hunting ground for big national retailers. Midland Atlantic told the planning commission the project is planned to include the Target store plus smaller outparcels for a grocery tenant, banks and other retailers, according to Soapbox Media. That momentum has stirred both excitement over new shopping options and concern from some residents about traffic and the loss of open space.
What happens next
With the commencement notice filed, Midland Atlantic and city staff now pivot to permits, detailed engineering plans and utility coordination before anyone starts turning ceremonial dirt. Local reporting notes that the current filing only covers early site work such as grading and pad prep rather than any vertical construction, and the developer has not yet named a specific groundbreaking date, according to Local 12.
The timing of contractors, permit approvals and construction bids will determine when the project moves from dirt work to building pads and finally to the Target store shell.
Legal and public-finance details
The council vote included a tax-increment financing reimbursement structure that will route a portion of future tax revenue back into public infrastructure tied to the development. According to Eagle Country 99.3, the ordinance passed on a unanimous roll call, and the emergency clause allows related agreements to move more quickly than usual.
Those legal documents will set the rules for when and how TIF reimbursements are paid, and what obligations the developer must meet before the public-financing piece officially kicks in.
