New IKEA store on track to open in spring 2007

DRAPER — Thursday's icy breezes sliced through the cavernous expanse that is becoming IKEA's first store in the Mountain West, rushing its hollows like the eager shoppers at one of the Swedish home furnisher's grand openings.

Brisk temps notwithstanding, the new store, located at the northwest corner of I-15 and Bangerter Highway, is on schedule for its spring 2007 debut, IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth said during a site tour Thursday. The 1,500-space parking lot is paved, most of the store's walls are up and secure, the roof is going up, and workers have started laying the showroom floor.

"Everything is going smoothly," Roth said.

On Thursday, the Swedish home furnishings retailer announced the appointment of Paul Janzen as store manager. Janzen, a Canadian who comes to Utah from the Vancouver, British Columbia, area, where he served most recently as human resource manager at IKEA Coquitlam, said during the site visit that his core management team, or "steering group," is complete. The executives overseeing the store's food services, interior design, business navigation and human resources are all Utah hires, he said.

The company is still accepting applications and interviewing, Janzen said, and plenty of jobs are yet to be filled. Eventually, the Draper IKEA will employ about 350 full- and part-time workers.

"That's our focus right now: building our team to open our store," he said. "We're just finishing (putting together the management team) now and will begin hiring co-workers and hourly workers in the new year, as well as a variety of managers."

General contractor Okland Construction has about 500 workers on the IKEA job, Roth said. When complete, the 310,000-square-foot store will include 140,000 to 150,000 square feet of warehouse space, with the rest dedicated to showroom and display space. IKEA will present 50 different room settings and three complete model homes to display some of its 10,000 exclusively designed items, along with a children's play area and a 300-seat restaurant serving Swedish and American specialties.

IKEA owns 40 acres on site, with the store occupying about 23. The remaining acreage will be sold to foster "complementary retail" after the store opens, Roth said. IKEA already has heard from some interested buyers but will not engage in serious negotiations until next year, he said.

No specific date has yet been set for the opening.

"The roof's not done and it's still winter," Roth said. "We still have key construction milestones to hit before we can pinpoint a target date. But we are on schedule."

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