IKEA, the popular home furnishings retailer with 41 locations in the U.S., will announce plans this morning to open one of its trendy superstores in Jacksonville.
The company, based in Sweden, said in a news release it will detail the location, size, employment and targeted opening date at a 10:30 a.m. news conference at the JAX Chamber Downtown.
IKEA representatives, Mayor Lenny Curry and JAX Chamber President Daniel Davis will attend, according to the release issued late Tuesday.
No legislation has been filed for taxpayer incentives for the project.
IKEA said it is expanding its presence in Florida and the Southeast. Its four Florida stores are in Orlando, Tampa, Sunrise and Sweetwater. The only Georgia store is in Atlanta.
For a sense of what to expect, Florida’s newest IKEA is a 416,000-square-foot store in Sweetwater that opened in August 2014 with more than 350 employees, according to Miamiherald.com. The IKEA occupies 14.6 acres, with nearly 1,500 parking spaces, next to the Dolphin Mall off the Florida Turnpike.
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.
Roth did not return a phone call about 9 p.m. last night.
Roth was responding last year to questions whether IKEA would want to operate at the struggling Regency Square Mall. He said it wasn’t, further explaining that the company seeks sites with a population of at least 2 million people within 40-60 miles.
That seemed to rule out Jacksonville. The seven-county area of Northeast Florida was projected to reach 1.7 million people by 2020.
However, Roth said then the company was always evaluating major population areas where it didn’t have a store.
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. Property remains available in the Town Center area, as well as along I-295 and I-95 throughout Duval County.
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. The company was founded in 1943.
One 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. That location already 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.
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