EAGLE, Colorado — Target has missed the mark with its initial store design for Eagle River Station, according to the folks present at the plan’s unveiling in Eagle, Colorado.

“It is without a doubt the ugliest warehouse I’ve ever seen,” said Brush Creek resident Rosie Shearwood. “This is what is going to sit in our front yard?”

While that is the bluntest initial assessment, it is not a singular comment. Town officials and residents alike agree that the store needs to be spruced up.

“I’ve seen Targets that look better than this,” said Eagle Town Board member Roxie Deane, during an Eagle River Station hearing last week.

Representatives of RED Development, the Kansas City-based firm that is proposing Eagle River Station, presented the Target design last week. Target would be the 132,000-square-foot anchor of the 552,000-square-foot commercial development proposed on a 99-acre tract located south of Interstate 70 and north of U.S. Highway 6 on the east end of town.

Castle Peak Ranch resident Teresa Hauser says the design shows no originality. “If we allow this to come in, we won’t look like the town of Eagle anymore. We will be any town, U.S.A.”

Resident Francis Roliter was a bit softer on the design. She noted that Eagle River Station opponents have suggested alternatives to the shopping center such as high tech businesses or a “green technology” manufacturing plant.

“If we think Target is unattractive, do we want a warehouse building like that? Any other option we are talking about will make the Target look like a silk purse,” she said.

Board members offered suggestions about breaking up the mass of the building with alternating materials. In general, town officials told the developers to come up with a design that is more unique to Eagle and less like a cookie cutter storefront.

“Target would be better served to blend in to our community,” said Eagle Town Board member Stephen Richards.