Finance giant to turn abandoned Target into 875-employee call center

A $6.57 billion business targeting a need for a new call center with room for some 1,000 employees found the perfect match in an unusual spot in the region: a shuttered Target Supercenter.

The company, auto-financing giant Santander Consumer USA, plans to take over 115,000 square feet of the former Target on State Road 54, near the Suncoast Parkway in Odessa, Pasco County. The Target was vacated in 2016, part of a corporate decision to close new stores after an unrelated move into Canada backfired and siphoned profits. “It’s a specialized large building that required a special tenant,” Pasco Economic Development Council President and CEO Bill Cronin tells Coffee Talk.