While the debate continues over the future and price tag for the present IKEA Burbank site, the Swedish home furnishing retailer is moving forward with plans to build another store in B-town. Today IKEA issued a statement announcing it is submitting plans to the City of Burbank for a new store because it has outgrown “the current location.”
Meanwhile, the future of the present site at 600 North San Fernando Boulevard remains up in the air, as Burbank officials try to determine if and how they can unload the property, which has ties to the city’s former redevelopment agency. The Burbank Leader has some details on that.
Below is the IKEA statement about its expansion plans in the Media City.
11/15/2012 5:00 a.m. CONSHOHOCKEN, PA – The application will mark the beginning of the governmental review process for this proposed relocation. Until the new, roomier store opens on a new site in Fall 2016, customers can continue to shop at the existing IKEA Burbank. Ultimately, the land and building occupied by the current store could be incorporated into a plan led by Crown Realty & Development, Inc., a prominent local developer, to spur further economic growth at the Burbank Town Center.
The current 242,000-square-foot IKEA Burbank, the first IKEA store in California and sixth in the U.S., opened November 1990 on 6.4 acres along I-5 at San Fernando Boulevard. The proposed 470,000-square-foot new store and its more than 1,700 convenient parking spaces would be built on 22 acres west of San Fernando Boulevard and south of Providencia Avenue, less than one mile from the original store and with improved accessibility. Plans reflect the same unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide. And, just as the existing Burbank store has a solar photovoltaic array atop its roof, IKEA also hopes to install a similar solar energy system as part of this proposed new store. (Solar panels already have been, or are being, installed on nearly 90% of the U.S. IKEA locations.)
“Because of this store’s success, we are excited about the opportunity to build upon our established presence in Burbank with a new, roomier store so close to the existing one, and in the same city,” said IKEA U.S. president Mike Ward. “This relocation would allow our co-workers to offer customers an updated, spacious and enhanced IKEA shopping experience.”
A new, more spacious IKEA Burbank would feature a larger quantity of the nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a larger restaurant for serving Swedish specialties. Other family-friendly features include a ‘Children’s IKEA’ area in the showroom, baby-care rooms, preferred parking and play areas throughout the store. IKEA now also offers a product picking and delivery service, and an IKEA Family loyalty program. In addition to the already 500 Burbank co-workers as part of the global IKEA family, IKEA would generate even more annual sales and property tax revenue to the City and local schools.
IKEA, drawing from its Swedish heritage and respect of nature, believes it can be a good business while doing good business and aims to minimize impacts on the environment. Globally, IKEA evaluates locations regularly for conservation opportunities, integrates innovative materials into product design, works to maintain sustainable resources, and flatpacks goods for efficient distribution. Specific U.S. sustainable efforts include: recycling waste material; incorporating environmental measures into the actual buildings with energy efficient HVAC and lighting systems, recycled construction materials, skylights in warehouse areas, and water-conserving restrooms; and operationally, eliminating plastic bags from the check-out process, phasing-out the sale of incandescent light bulbs, facilitating recycling of customers’ compact fluorescent bulbs, and by 2016 selling and using only LED bulbs. IKEA also is in the process of rolling out solar energy installations atop nearly 90% of its U.S. locations, and has installed electric vehicle charging stations at nine stores in the West.
IKEA strives to be ‘The Life Improvement Store,’ and since its 1943 founding in Sweden 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 330 IKEA stores in 40 countries, including 38 in the U.S. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives benefiting children and the environment. For more information, go to IKEA-USA.com.
###
