Target buys property in Hill Country, has plans to build new store

Target Corp. plans to build a 145,000 square-foot store on U.S. 290 in the fast-growing Hill Country town of Dripping Springs, west of Austin.

The Minneapolis-based retailer purchased 10½ acres on Jan. 12 from a shell company linked to Property Commerce, a Houston-based developer of shopping centers, Hays County deed records show.

Target spokesperson Loni Monroe confirmed that the company plans to build a store at the site, with the address of 13550 West US 290. The company doesn't have any more information to share, she said.

"We're excited to bring an easy, affordable and convenient shopping experience to new guests in the Dripping Springs community," she wrote.

Property Commerce plans to build a shopping center around the Target store, according to a brochure on the firm's website, which shows two other retail buildings — one attached to the Target and encompassing about 7,900 square feet, the other across the parking lot, with 11,400 square feet. Four other lots would be open for development, directly facing U.S. 290, according to the brochure.

Executives at Property Commerce did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The new Target store will be two miles west of a 107,000 square-foot H-E-B supermarket that opened in 2023 at U.S. 290 and Nutty Brown Road.

It will be about 11 miles west from the nearest Target at the crossing of US 290 and the MoPac Expressway in Austin. Target also has a store in Bee Cave, about 9 miles north of the new site.

Like other Hill Country towns in Austin's orbit, Dripping Springs has boomed in recent years, with its population growing from 4,920 in 2020 to an estimated 10,164 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.