IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings retailer, today announced contractors are hired for building its future Jacksonville store, the fifth such store in the State of Florida. Pending remaining permits, this progress allows the project to continue on track for site work to commence, with groundbreaking next month and a store opening in Fall 2017, increasing the Swedish retailer’s presence in the Sunshine State. There are currently IKEA stores in the Central Florida cities of Orlando and Tampa as well as the South Florida cities of Sunrise and Sweetwater.

IKEA has chosen Marcobay Construction, Inc. to serve as Construction Manager for the IKEA Jacksonville site work and store development project. Having a strong Southeastern presence, Marcobay is a full-service construction management, design/build and general contracting firm based in Lakeland, FL. Other firms assisting with this project are: real estate brokerage CBRE for site selection support; Driver, McAfee, Peek & Hawthorne for local land use counsel; Prosser, Inc. for civil and traffic engineering; Bushra Tsai Inc. for structural engineering, RPM Engineers, Inc. for mechanical, electrical and plumbing design; Universal Engineering Sciences for geotechnical services; Environmental Services, Inc. and Gemini Engineering for environmental resources; GreenbergFarrow for development coordination; and Ware Malcomb as project architect.

“With contractors onboard, plans can proceed towards opening the future IKEA Jacksonville,” said Lars Petersson, IKEA U.S. president. “This store will provide a more convenient IKEA shopping experience for current and potential customers throughout North Florida and Southern Georgia, complementing our growing southeastern U.S. presence.”

IKEA Jacksonville will feature nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 325-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes. Other family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the Showroom, baby care rooms, play areas throughout the store, and preferred parking. In addition to the more than 500 jobs that are expected to be created during the construction phase, approximately 250 coworkers will join the IKEA family when the new store opens. IKEA Jacksonville also will provide significant annual sales and property tax revenue for local governments and schools.

Located approximately 10 miles southeast of downtown Jacksonville, the 290,000-square-foot proposed IKEA store and its 950 parking spaces will be built on 25 acres along the northwestern corner of Interstate 295 and Gate Parkway. Store plans reflect the same unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide. IKEA also is evaluating potential on-site power generation to complement its current U.S. renewable energy presence at nearly 90% of its U.S. locations.

Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. There are currently more than 380 IKEA stores in 48 countries, including 42 in the U.S. IKEA has been included in rankings of “Best Companies to Work For” and, as further investment in its coworkers, has raised its own minimum wage twice in two years. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment.

(Source: furnituretoday.com)