The group’s long-brewing plan to open smaller Ikea stores in downtown locations has gotten underway in San Francisco.
The real estate development arm of Ingka Group, of which Ikea Retail is also part, has begun renovation on the 6 x 6 Building on Market Street. The 375,000sq ft property was purchased by the group for nearly $200M in late 2020 and construction was delayed by the pandemic.
The project will include other retail and restaurant tenants and will be anchored by a 70,000sq ft Ikea store. The remaining space in the centre will be leased to food and beverage, entertainment, retail and office tenants.
When the San Francisco site was acquired, then Managing Director of Ingka Centres said: “There about 40 to 45 cities we’ve identified globally where we could open these centres, to be anchored by Ikea stores running between 50,000 and 80,000sq ft. We’ve found we could buy bigger buildings in these cities – they could be an old mall or a post office – and redevelop them into what we are calling ‘meeting places.’”
