Ikea built 950 parking spaces for its new store, but it’s preparing for grand opening crowds that will need many more.
The company says it needs about 1,000 temporary spots nearby for the first three months after its Nov. 8 opening.
Ikea did not respond to an email or call Tuesday, but the need sounds like that of its new store in Indiana.
The Indianapolis Star reported that when the Fisher, Indiana, Ikea opened last week, the store’s 1,000-car parking lot was full by 10:30 a.m. and shuttle buses transported customers from an overflow lot.
Ikea wants to modify its St. Johns River Water Management District permit to use temporary spaces on vacant land on the other side of Interstate 295 for the Jacksonville temporary parking.
Ikea, a popular home-furnishings store, will open at 7801 Gate Parkway at northwest Gate Parkway and I-295. The temporary lots are at southwest Gate Parkway and Baymeadows Road East.
The temporary spaces are along Gate Parkway east of I-295 between and east of Synovus Bank and Mayo Clinic Primary Care, which have their own parking lots.
A letter to the water management district from the Prosser engineering firm says the temporary parking spaces will comprise crushcrete, which is crushed concrete, and asphalt millings in existing cleared, pad-ready lots owned by Ash Properties.
The material will be removed and the property will be re-sodded after the temporary parking period is over.
The Indiana Ikea also had a crowd of more than 150 customers camping out in advance of the opening. The Jacksonville store invites campers to start lining up Nov. 6 — 48 hours in advance of the 9 a.m. Nov. 8 opening.
The 290,000-square-foot Jacksonville Ikea is the Swedish company’s fifth store in Florida and its 46th in the U.S.