Dear Target, we’ve got an el station for you

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The quest for outside funds to fill Chicago’s budget gap is gathering momentum, and not just from the Mayor’s office. Residents are getting into the game and asking corporations to help fund neighborhood projects.

Last week’s post offering Mayor Daley suggestions of what piece of the city to sell next was written mostly in jest. But now, it seems selling the water supply is a real possibility, not just a joke. And Apple is interested in sponsoring a CTA station near their newest store at North and Clybourn. Apple would fork over $4 million to refurbish and ostensibly brand one of the dingiest stops on the Red Line.

And now we’ve got a grass roots movement to get Target to do the same. The Minneapolis-based discounter is opening a store at Montrose and Broadway, and nearby Uptown residents have begun a letter writing campaign asking Target to sponsor the Wilson El stop. Writes a reader at the neighborhood blog Uptown Update:

I would think that Target would like to have its surrounding areas cleaned up. I think it would send a message that Target will become a positive influence in the community. With all the controversy over its presence, I would think this initiative would ease some tension. 

That tension stems from a controversial development at Uptown’s Wilson Yard now being built with TIF funds where the Target store is the sole commercial confirmed occupant. Part of the original plan many year ago when the development was first proposed, was to use some of the TIF money to redevelop the Wilson stop, possibly relocating it for more direct access to the development which also included movie theaters, a restaurant and mixed income housing.

But the movie theaters fell out, the housing is strictly low income rental units, and the TIF funds were not made available to fix up the CTA station. Residents are hoping Target will step up and help out.

So far, no word from Target other than some canned PR emails. But Uptown Update readers are tenacious, it could happen.