Ikea buys Brooklyn tract to build first NYC store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, July 4, 2005
Brooklyn, N.Y. — Ikea has acquired property here for its first New York City store.
Joseph Roth, director of expansion public affairs for Ikea North America, confirmed last week that the retailer bought a waterfront parcel in the Red Hook area for a 340,000-square-foot, two-level store.
He wouldn't disclose the purchase price, but the New York Post said Ikea paid $31.25 million for the 48-acre parcel — an old shipyard — to build a $100 million store. About 25.5 acres of the parcel is under water, and Ikea is expected to build on the remaining 22.5 acres.
Roth said it has taken Ikea three years to get to this stage for the New York store.
"Now we have a lengthy process ahead of us to construct and outfit the store as well as recruit and train coworkers, but we're very excited," he said. He couldn't say for sure when the store will open, but estimated that it's "a year to year and a half or longer away."
Roth added, "We're thrilled with the support we're receiving from the local community and we can't wait to open Ikea Brooklyn."
Ikea plans to offer ferry service from lower Manhattan to the waterfront store and will provide shuttle service to nearby bus and subway stops, he said. The property will feature a 6.3-acre landscaped esplanade that gives the community access to the waterfront.
Separately, Ikea will open its 23rd U.S. store June 29 in Atlanta, followed by a 24th in Frisco, Texas, on Aug. 3. A second Chicago-area store opens in Bolingbrook, Ill., this fall as does Ikea's first Boston-area store in Stoughton, Mass.
Over the next few years, the Sweden-based retailer plans to open five new U.S. stores a year. In greater New York, Ikea already has stores in Hicksville, N.Y., Elizabeth and Paramus, N.J., and New Haven, Conn.
Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Ikea North America was ranked No. 5 on Furniture/Today's survey of the Top 100 U.S. furniture stores, with estimated furniture, bedding and accessories sales last year of $1.075 billion.
