Update: New University Avenue Target store scheduled for October opening

Update, Feb. 16, 2017: Target spokeswoman Kristy Welker has confirmed to Berkeleyside that the University Avenue store is scheduled to open in October 2017.

Update, Nov. 11: Berkeleyside reader Ian Crew asked Target on Twitter when the University Avenue store might open, pointing them to this story. The reply? “We can’t release the official date. But keep in mind, Target only opens new stores three times a year, in March, July and October.”

Original story: Target will open a store at 1414 University Ave. in Berkeley on the site of the former Savers Thrift and, before that, Andronico’s. It will be the second central Berkeley location for Target, which opened a Target Express in downtown last year.

Kristy Welker from Target’s communications department confirmed Target had “signed a lease for a new store on University Avenue in downtown Berkeley.” Welker said she was was able to share any additional information at this point.

Several neighbors in the central Berkeley area said they had observed crews at work on the site, whose cross street is Acton Street, and heard rumors it was being developed for Target.

Target opened a Target Express store at Shattuck and Allston Way in the heart of downtown in March of last year, and has two nearby big-box stores in in Emeryville and Albany.

Savers Thrift Superstore had only been open at 1414 University Ave. for two years before it shut its doors in January. Andronico’s closed in 2011 after the grocery chain declared bankruptcy.