A developer who's been working to put a shopping mall at the 10-acre site of the Seattle Goodwill store on S. Dearborn Street has withdrawn his proposal, citing the effects of the recession.
The move kills a controversial plan that would have brought a Target and several other big-box stores to a four-block "town center" type mall. In exchange, the developer would have built Goodwill, the owner of the property, a four-story building at the site to replace the aging structure that currently houses a thrift store and job-training programs.
To mitigate the mall's impact on residents and the nearby Little Saigon shopping district, a group called the Dearborn Street Coalition for a Livable Neighborhood had gotten the developer to sign a "community benefits agreement" that promised 200 units of low-income housing, small-business assistance for Little Saigon and $200,000 in traffic mitigation.