In what City Council President Greg Anderson says is a “really wonderful and very fun announcement,” the popular IKEA Home Furnishings Co. detailed plans this morning to open one of its trendy superstores in Jacksonville.
Those plans are for a 294,000-square-foot store on 25 acres at northwest Gate Parkway and Interstate 295.
Pending approvals, construction could begin in summer 2016 with an opening in fall 2017. In addition to the 500 jobs expected for construction, the store would employ about 250 people.
It will be the fifth IKEA in Florida.
Anderson said there would be minimum zoning changes needed, but no taxpayer incentives.
“It’s a major investment for building and infrastructure,” Anderson said.
IKEA President Lars Petersson said the location is within an emerging retail corridor that would provide the 110,000 Jacksonville-area IKEA customers a store of their own.
The store will feature nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area and a restaurant serving the store’s specialties.
Anderson referred to it as a destination retailer. “People will drive to shop at IKEA and spend a couple of hours to shop,” he said.
Spokesman Joseph Roth said last year that IKEA buys its sites, which average 20-30 acres, and builds its stores, which are 350,000 to 450,000 square feet in size. Sites are along interstates for the greatest visibility and access.
He was responding last year to questions whether IKEA would want to operate at the struggling Regency Square Mall. He ruled out Jacksonville by explaining the company seeks sites with a population of at least 2 million people within 40-60 miles.
The seven-county area of Northeast Florida is not projected to reach 2 million people until 2030, when the state Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research projects it will be 1.99 million.
However, Roth said then the company was always evaluating major population areas where it didn’t have a store.
The newest Florida location in Sweetwater is a 416,000-square-foot store that opened in August 2014 with more than 350 employees. It was developed on 14.6 acres, with nearly 1,500 parking spaces, near the Dolphin Mall off the Florida Turnpike, according to miamiherald.com
IKEA was founded in 1943 in Sweden. It operates 41 stores in the U.S.
The company said it is expanding its presence in Florida and the Southeast. Its four Florida stores are in Orlando, Tampa, Sunrise and Sweetwater.
The growth and success of the St. Johns Town Center at Interstate 295, Butler Boulevard and Gate Parkway, has attracted more retailers and development to Northeast Florida.
IKEA Group’s total sales amounted to $35.7 billion in the year that ended Aug. 31. IKEA Group operates 328 stores in 28 countries. There also are more than 40 IKEA stores run by franchises.
Another of the company’s most recent developments sheds more light on the company’s size and strategy.
On Sept. 1, IKEA broke ground in Burbank, Calif., to build a larger store less than a mile from an existing location, which will close when the new store opens.
The new store should open in spring 2017, indicating an estimated 18-month construction timeframe.
The new location will be 456,000 square feet on 22 acres, almost double the size of the older store that opened in 1990. The existing location employs 400 people, which IKEA refers to as “coworkers.”
The new IKEA Burbank will feature more of the almost 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 room-settings, three model-home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 600-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties.
It also includes a “Children’s IKEA” area in the showroom, baby-care rooms and play areas throughout the store.
“This type of company invests in the community,” Anderson said, referring to the capital and community investments.
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