A new Target store on the site of the former Cabrini Green housing development is scheduled to open Sunday, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel says it's a bull's-eye for job creation.
The new store, on the corner of North Larrabee and West Division streets, will encompass 150,000 square feet of what was once one of Chicago's most crime-infested housing projects and bring 200 jobs to the neighborhood.
"[The Chicago Housing Authority] actually traded their property to allow the Target to be built here but in the process of trading the property they also made a deal to give 75 jobs for the residents," Ald. Walter Burnett said.
One of those jobs belongs to the son of Rhomona Murphy, who lived in the Cabrini Green projects for 17 years.
"I love it cause my son works there now," Murphy said. "I love it cause I used to go all the way to Elston to shop."
Murphy said she remembers the area before all the re-development and is OK with the change.
"We have to live somewhere and we have to move on," she said.
The last of the buildings that made up the CHA development, comprised of 10 sections built in a 20-year stretch beginning in 1942, came down two years ago.
A resident who lived in the last high-rise to be torn down said the new store is just steps away from what was known as death alley -- an area named because of a gang turn war.
Target rejected a request by the CHA to hire managers from the housing project, saying it would be unfair to current employees working their way up in the company.
