MORRISVILLE - The latest sign of economic recovery: One of this town's most iconic modern landmarks - a mound of dirt that has become known to some as Mount Morrisville - is about to disappear.

Developers of Park West Village, the delayed mixed-use development at Cary Parkway and Chapel Hill Road, inked a deal to lure Target to the project last week.

The deal would kick off the first phase of the 95-acre project, meaning a mound of rubble on the site - the former Andrx Pharmaceutical plant - will soon be history.

Casto and 1st Carolina have been planning Park West since 2006, when the region was in a retail building boom.

The partners bought the manufacturing facility from Andrx with plans to build as many as 425 apartments or condominiums; 50,000 square feet of offices; 690,000 square feet of stores and restaurants, including a grocery; a movie theater with 2,990 seats and a 140-room hotel.

And they wanted to build it all at once.

But as the recession spread, tenants and lenders retreated. And Park West never came to be.

Lenders often require developers to secure enough tenants before agreeing to finance projects. When leasing activity is slow, they generally require a higher percentage of pre-leasing to reduce risk.

Park West's developers responded to sluggish leasing and tight lending by reconfiguring their plans into easier-to-finance bits.

The new plans, which were approved last month by Morrisville officials, break the project into three smaller phases. They call for 650,000 square feet of retail, up to 100,000 square feet of offices and 255 apartments. The developers also sought to reduce the number of housing units installed above storefronts in the project's Main Street corridor from a maximum of 100 units to 40 units.

The first phase would include about 378,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. To get going, though, Park West needs the anchor.

"With Target and over 200,000 square feet of additional retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses, the first phase of Park West will serve the Morrisville community well," Connell Radcliff, president of 1st Carolina, said Friday in a prepared statement. "We look forward to starting this project."

In an interview on Wednesday, Radcliff added that, if the streak of luck continues, the second and third phases could be built together.

"We feel like we have a lot of momentum," he said.

First-phase dirt could move as early as this week.

And an overdue groundbreaking ceremony could follow shortly thereafter.

Critics, champions

Park West has drawn criticism from residents who have been concerned about the size of the development and its potential impact on Morrisville's infrastructure.

Last week, some of those concerns persisted. But others were excited about the development.

"When you move to Cary, you realize there's going to be growth," said Rhonda Hailey, 49, who lives on Chapel Hill Road, near the Park West site.

She worried about the traffic that would come with the project. She doesn't want to find out. "I don't want to be here when the center is finished," she said. "... But what can you do?"

Suzanne Groene, however, thinks Park West will be a good thing. Groene, 58, lives near the site and is concerned about the buffer between her home and the construction.

But she thinks the project could help boost her property value.

"If it's done right," she said, "it'll be OK."

Staff writer Jack Hagel contributed to this report.