Jackson Heights Life

The merchants there care enough to keep the streets in front of their stores clean

This is the kind easy fix that can elevate any store or block that is sorely lacking in JH.  No new construction necessary, works for bodegas, banks, post offices and upscale bakeries alike.  Maybe a national brand will insist on caring about their sidewalk, maybe not - there are definitely examples to the contrary.

the square footage of the entire property is 15,000 square feet, so the actual selling floor is probably closer to 12,000 - or about half that size.
http://opendatany.com/food-store.php?id=632081

Given the 23,580 figure is from the press release, I have to assume the Target will be two levels.

I've spent nearly two years trying to get the location to be a school.

Has that been ruled out? It could still be above it, right?

the streets by 74 and 73 and 37th ave are filthy. If you walk that route to the train station you can see first hand how dirty it is. Foodtown sells expired food so I rather go to target for non expired food. Also there are construction workers working by brunson building, they are coming in and out, so something is coming there.

The streets around the subway entrance at 74th street, particularly at Diversity Plaza down the stairs are a filthy disgrace. I am surprised that people don't fall down the stairs.

I agree about Foodtown, but their fruits and vegetables are good. The other supermarket used to be good, whatever it is called (Dragon something?), until they fired the butchers union. The meat and fish dept was their best area. They have no sense.

JH was always gentrified.

Gentrification is the process in which a downtrodden urban area (with low property values), is "discovered" by the middle class (which typically seems to occur after artists discover the area because of the cheap housing costs). This discovery leads to renovation of homes and stores, which leads to increased property values and ends up displacing the original low-income residents (and their children).

I don't think Jackson Heights really fits that definition, does it? Hasn't it always been a middle class neighborhood? I think you could make a compelling argument that in the historic district, where one bedrooms are being listed now at +$300K, the middle class might no longer be able to afford the neighborhood since median income in NYC is $50K.

Jackson Heights wasn't always gentrified just because many of the original buildings were coops.  Those coops were built on empty land.  To me, gentrification is the displacement of one neighborhood population by another, more affluent population.  It's almost always preceded by a rise in home/rental prices.  Just look at the most recent posting in the "Real Estate and Home Improvement" section.  It lists JH coop sales that topped $900,000 with two over one million! 

Also, in my humble opinion, bodegas and 99 cent stores are just the same old mom and pop stores we always had, only the owners look different.  We used to have five and dimes that sold the same goods as the 99 cent places.  We had corner delis and candy stores.  We had places like Ferns on 74th Street which I loved, but was more schlocky than upscale.  Do we need a dozen 99 cent stores, maybe not.  But then again, if they all stay in business, then I guess there is enough demand.

i specifically said "not the declasse ones" when referring to chains. i'm talking about people applauding/wanting Sephora, Ulta,Urban Outfitters, Whole Foods and the like. and i certainly DO think that Target draws that sort of shopper - as evidenced by their designer pop-ups and the clientele i see at the ones i've visited recently (like the Tribeca branch near my office).

i specifically said "not the declasse ones" when referring to chains. i'm talking about people applauding/wanting Sephora, Ulta,Urban Outfitters, Whole Foods and the like. and i certainly DO think that Target draws that sort of shopper - as evidenced by their designer pop-ups and the clientele i see at the ones i've visited recently (like the Tribeca branch near my office).

But my larger point still stands: national chains (declasse or otherwise) aren't threatening the neighborhood because yuppies are moving in. They are moving in because its majority working and lower-middle-class shopping base can support them. And, in any case, the idea that non-white or "ethnically discernible" working-class New Yorkers aren't also shopping at Sephora or Urban Outfitters is absurd. Working class doesn't necessarily mean working poor.

The gentrification elsewhere is different.

Our own version here in Jackson Heights is immigrants dreaming of Big Brand Stores. 

That is... immigrants working hard and raising themselves into a middle-class life.

The real irony is that often ( though not always) Historic District folks scorn the very thing immigrants crave! The suburban American ideal.

Nailed it. I think abc is absolutely right. Middle and lower-class immigrant and multi-ethnic communities find value in many of the things that generational middle- and upper-middle-class denizens take issue with. I can promise you a majority of the people who live in Jackson Heights/Elmhurst will be delighted to have a Target in such close proximity. Simply because they cater to one's everyday needs at affordable prices. And dare I say, provide validation as a staple retailer of the middle-class. Those affordable prices are what make that climb a little easier. When faced with the choice of an easier path into the middle-class for myself and my family, versus a more curated neighborhood retail experience, the former will win every time.

I'm speaking from experience as (1) a brand strategist who's spent years working on retail and consumer packaged goods brands (groceries, home supplies, etc.), but also as (2) an upper-middle class brown person who came from a middle/lower-middle-class family. When I was growing up, my family ONLY shopped at places like Caldor, Pathmark/Foodtown, and yes, Target. That's because they had what we needed to live our lives. The "vibe" of the neighborhood hardly registered on the list of importance.

While that mindset is still true for my parents, I'd say that it's no longer the case for me. Thanks to their contributions, I've been able to climb higher on that ladder, and am now poised to own property. A first for my family. My mother — a native New Yorker, who worked as an overeducated social worker in Brooklyn and The Bronx — was driven out of Sunnyside, and New York in general, by unaffordable rent prices. So, I've seen the effects of rising living costs firsthand.

But I think we're lying to ourselves if we didn't acknowledge that there's a large group of people — most likely the majority who are not on this forum — that appreciate the opportunity that businesses like Target bring. If I'm not in the middle class, the prices at places like Target help me get there; and by shopping with them, I already feel like I am.