Glendale hoping IKEA, other businesses lead to investment boom
Sep 22, 2017, 10:17 AM
(Public Domain Photo)
PHOENIX — Glendale said it was hoping the arrival of IKEA and several other companies in the next few years would spark an an investment boom in the West Valley city.
“We’re really starting to leverage the infrastructure to attract businesses,” City Manager Kevin Phelps said.
IKEA announced Thursday that it would build a 348,000-square-foot store near Bethany Home Road and the Loop 101. It would be located very close to a future TopGolf location and a TopGolf competitor, Drive Shack.
Phelps said that area has enormous potential for Glendale.
“Within a mile radius of where IKEA is at, we’ve already identified upwards of over a billion dollars of projects that are going to be coming in over the next couple of years,” he said.
Phelps said the IKEA deal showed the city was committed to landing big deals.
He said the city agreed to extend 95th Avenue from Bethany Home Road to Camelback Road, which will give customers better access to the store.
He also said the Swedish furniture chain struck a unique deal with the city.
“They got permission from IKEA in Europe to not only acquire the 32 acres needed for their store, but they actually acquired 67 acres around their entire parcel,” Phelps said.
“That’s unique for them, not only are they going to develop their store, but they’ll be starting on a plan to develop the remaining 35 acres left over. We haven’t gotten any specifics but we’re trying to find things that are complimentary to IKEA that’s value added.”
KTAR News’ Tom Perumean contributed to this report.