IKEA construction begins on store in southwest Las Vegas

If you’re looking for that one, single store where you can grab a charcoal grill, some placemats, a shower curtain, a sectional sofa, a coffee maker, some patio planters, coasters, a table lamp — deep breath — a 2-foot-tall toilet paper roll stand, a wine rack, cabinet hardware, authentic Swedish meatballs and, yes, even the kitchen sink, then sit tight for a spell.

You’ll be able to score all of that plus 10,000 other home items inside what will be the Las Vegas Valley’s most massive store come summer 2016.

That’s when Sweden-based IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is scheduled to open its 351,000-square-foot store at Durango Drive and the 215 Beltway in southwest Las Vegas. The company broke ground on the store Thursday as dignitaries including Gov. Brian Sandoval and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Las Vegas, looked on.

Just how big will IKEA’s 41st U.S. store be? Its footprint could hold nearly 10 average-sized Whole Foods stores, or 206 Starbucks coffee bars. Its 26-acre footprint could contain 226 typical Las Vegas home lots. It will be by far the biggest single store in Southern Nevada, dwarfing by 43 percent the current biggest, a 245,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter at Tropicana Avenue and Fort Apache Road.

IKEA is privately held, and its representatives declined Thursday to disclose the cost to build the store. They did say they would invest “tens and tens of millions of dollars” in the process, from grading the lot to stocking merchandise.

It’s an investment made possible by population growth and economic revival.

The retailer already has more than 101,000 customers in Southern Nevada through its website and catalog, which is the world’s most widely distributed free, annual publication, with 217 million copies circulated in 33 languages in 2014.

But with the region’s population tipping past the 2 million mark, it was time to tap into the “new customers who have yet to experience the IKEA concept,” said Joseph Roth, the retailer’s U.S. expansion and property public affairs manager.

ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE

The move is also a vote of confidence in the state’s economy, public officials said.

“This community was hit really hard by our recession,” Sandoval said. “IKEA does its due diligence. It looks at a community, and it recognizes a place that is emerging, that’s on its way.

“You chose to come to Las Vegas. You selected an extraordinary location, and this gives us all a sense of momentum happening here in Clark County and statewide. People feel good, and this today is a sign of that.”

Sandoval added that IKEA’s “culture” — the retailer uses renewable energy and provides benefits to part-time workers — “is something we really want in our state.”

Real estate brokers associated with the deal called it a watershed moment for the local economy.

“A lot of the deals we were working on in the past four years reflected us representing banks or investors buying properties,” said Derek Rafie, a CBRE Las Vegas broker who represented IKEA in its $21.3 million land purchase. “This deal is a big turning point in terms of how the market is changing. We’re seeing fewer investor deals and transitioning into more user-type deals and pricing.”

Through Rafie and CBRE Las Vegas colleague Keith Spencer, IKEA had been searching in earnest for a local spot for two years.

Spencer said IKEA was considering stores in other markets besides Las Vegas before it settled on coming to Southern Nevada.

“It was almost like a contest. We were competing with the world,” Spencer said.

Annette Banks, IKEA’s real estate manager, said the company was “holding out until the population grew a little bit more to find the perfect location, which we now believe we’ve done.”

40 MILLION VISITORS WELCOME

IKEA’s site, which it bought in December, suited the retailer’s need to be highway-accessible to as many people as possible, Banks said.

And though tourist traffic wasn’t a key consideration for IKEA, which is focused on the local market, the city’s 40 million annual visitors “are more than welcome to shop at IKEA, and we know they will,” Banks said.

What they’ll find is a product lineup emphasizing home furnishings that company officials say are well-designed but affordable to most people — think $150 TV cabinets, $230 full-sized bedframes and do-it-yourself patio-decking squares that come in packs of 10 for $25.

The store will have 50 “inspirational” room settings, three model-home interiors, a supervised children’s play area and a 450-seat restaurant serving Swedish dishes such as salmon plates and meatballs with lingonberries. There’ll also be a “Children’s IKEA” area, baby-care rooms and preferred parking for families with small children.

IKEA officials also plan to look at the potential for on-site renewable power generation, which they said they’re aiming for at nearly 90 percent of their U.S. stores.

Now that IKEA is here, expect other big businesses who don’t yet have local operations to begin looking, Rafie said.

“It gives the market some validity. It puts us in a position where other large companies that are on the fence may decide Las Vegas is worth investing in,” he said.

Las Vegas-based R&O Construction is IKEA’s local general contractor. GreenbergFarrow of Atlanta is the architect.

The store will create 500 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs.

IKEA will begin hiring managers in late summer or early fall, Roth said. Interested candidates can track openings at IKEA-USA.com. In addition to positions in customer service, security, maintenance, receiving, warehouse and stock replenishment, IKEA plans to offer more than 60 food-service jobs in its restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Cafe Bistro and employee cafeteria.

Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Find @J_Robison1 on Twitter.