IKEA details construction plans for Las Vegas store

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA detailed plans Wednesday for the construction of its Las Vegas store.

The company said it has chosen Las Vegas-based R&O Construction to build its 351,000-square-foot store on 26 acres along the northern side of the 215 Beltway at Durango Drive.

The store will contain nearly 10,000 products exclusive to IKEA. It will also 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.

The store will also have a “Children’s IKEA” area, baby-care rooms and preferred parking among its 1,300 parking slots.

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

The store is scheduled to break ground in spring and open in summer of 2016.

“We are glad plans continue to be on track to open our IKEA Las Vegas store,” said Rob Olson, chief operating officer of IKEA U.S. “This store will provide a more convenient IKEA shopping experience for current and potential customers throughout Clark County and Southern Nevada, strengthening the IKEA presence in the Southwestern U.S.”

IKEA flirted off and on for much of the last decade with entering the local market, but didn’t make its move until last summer, when it announced the city had reached the retailer’s internal watermark of 2 million residents. It closed in December on the purchase of its 26 acres for $21.3 million, or roughly $819,000 an acre — a price that set a local post-recession high for large, commercial land deals.

The closest IKEA stores to the market are in Covina, Calif.; Tempe, Ariz.; and Draper, Utah.

Other local businesses working with IKEA on the project include commercial brokerage CBRE Las Vegas; civil engineering and traffic consulting firm Kimley-Horn & Associates; testing and inspection services company Terracon; and law firms Fennemore Craig and Childs Watson & Gallagher.

GreenbergFarrow of Atlanta is the architect.

IKEA said construction will create 500 contracting jobs. The store will open with 300 permanent employees.

IKEA has 360 stores in 47 countries, including 40 in the United States.

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