The Democrat-Gazette’s article this morning about the Simon Property Group proposal to raze University Mall and build a mixed-use project mentioned Costco as a possible anchor tenant. (We wrote about the coming Simon proposal yesterday.)

If only that Costco speculation were true. We’re big fans of the discounter.

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The Simon reps told me explicitly yesterday that Costco was not interested in the project, or Arkansas in general, perhaps because of some sort of “gentleman’s agreement” with Wal-Mart, whose Sam’s Club is a direct competitor. In any case, the huge footprint of a Costco and the acres of surface parking they require, wouldn’t be a good fit for the project envisioned here. Target, which has been in talks with Simon, has built multi-level stores that gets square footage from vertical growth, rather than a more horizontal profile.

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