Target is opening its first store in Washington D.C. on schedule this week at DC USA, a 540,000-square-foot, three-story urban retail project located on nearly five acres on the west side of 14th Street between Park Road and Irving Street in the formerly-blighted neighborhood of Columbia Heights. Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Marshall's, Washington Sports Club, Staples, Children's Place, Radio Shack, Payless, Lane Bryant, Mattress Discounters, Caribou Coffee, Panda Express, Quizno's and Maggie Moo's are among the retailers that will complement the 180,000-square-foot, two-story Target store. At the base of the building is a 1,000-space parking garage, which is located across from a major subway station. The $145 million project is the brainchild of Grid Properties and Gotham Developers, which held the site for seven years while going through laborious and complex permitting and financing processes before finally breaking ground in 2006. The venture's initial commitment to Columbia Heights spurred interest from other developers to revitalize the neighborhood -- there has been approximately $1 billion in residential, office and retail development since 2001. To learn more about Grid Properties' theory on urban retail development, follow this link to read a 2007 CoStar Advisor story including an interview with Grid president, Drew Greenwald.