Grover wrote:Because it's a regional draw and would bring thousands downtown.
Well, it would bring thousands of cars to a singular location --- people would pack up the car with stuff --- and then leave to go assemble their purchases.
And they leave all their tax dollars here...and maybe they go eat somewhere, and see UMA...and buy nice piece of home decor to sit on their high design partical board...
Maybe they don't, just saying there could just maybe be a positive residual effect(s).
While the prospect of an Ikea within a very short walk from my loft is quite appealing, I just don't see folks making their way to other places in the area. I've been to at least six Ikea stores and they are very much a formula that is repeated.
The San Francisco area location I have been to a couple of times is one of the more compact locations, they had a mult-level parking garage built between my first and most recent visit. You spend hours in the store and you walk out with tons of stuff --- you just want to get home.
I've actually walked over to Union Station a couple of times recently for lunch and dinner. What it really needs in the immediate vicinity instead of an Ikea is residential users. Reconnect Union Station to the city via a replacement street grid to the West and begin infilling the blocks with mixed uses, including residential.
I think its a pipe dream to think if we ever do get an IKEA that it wouldn't be built at the Mills, Chesterfield Valley or Fairview... something like that
I don't know if I want IKEA downtown. It would negatively impact all of the smaller retailers such as Goodworks and Intaglia. I would love to have them in the metro area, but maybe it is better that they do not open Downtown. They would be the home goods version of Wal-mart, in the city.
^ i don't see the conflict - IMO Ikea shoppers are choosing it over Target or whatever. A lot of Ikea stuff is well designed, but very cheap. I would still buy a number of things at UMA and other places.
Ikea certainly is auto-centric, but so are most of the "attractions" downtown. I do agree that what Union Station really needs is nearby residential. If the Plaza Square complex were redone it would be huge for US. Even though I'd like to see an Ikea near US it would raise the issue in 20 years of what to do with the site - or whenever Ikea's fall out of favor.
kustramo wrote:I think its a pipe dream to think if we ever do get an IKEA that it wouldn't be built at the Mills, Chesterfield Valley or Fairview... something like that
I would have to agree. My bet (but certainly not my preference!) would be that it would be built in the Wentzville area, to draw from both the St. Louis and "western" (e.g., Columbia, MO, KC, etc.) market.
Personally, I liked those Northwest Plaza rumors that were floating around a while ago.
I just want to clarify...my information was simple word of mouth. One of the other graduate students at WashU was looking at the site for his degree project and one of his advisors told him of the information. He then passed it on to me. His advisor is an architect and her husband is one of the vp's at cannon, so I don't think her information could be too off the mark. And with certain knowledge of the land ownership, a couple of assumptions could be made: 1)if the land holder is swedish, that could be encouraging; 2)Union station would have to be involved, especially if there is a new Union station retail/restaurant building requiring the relocated parking/garage, also encouraging; and 3)metro would stand to be a primary means of transportation to and from the area, so I would hope they would be happy to sell the land/right-of-way to get this thing going.
Personally, I think this would be a great site, related to the many reasons already posted. And locating in Wentzville over downtown would not deter those from the "west." It may just give them yet another reason to visit the city, instead of driving four-five hours, shopping all day, eating at a chain restaurant and staying one night in a chain hotel (believe me, I know many individuals who have done just this) That's good income for the city, and especially for an area looking to re-energize itself.
While IKEA is perceived as an auto-centric retailer, it is because most of their stores are located in the burbs, where land is cheap and they can afford a more spread out store and vast acres of parking. I wonder if incentives could be derived from being a T.O.D. or similar incentives to those offered to Centene (I admit I am not wholly familiar with the small print of Centene's package with downtown, and not a huge fan of continued development incentives...downtown might be about ready to stand on its own feet, and an urban-sized IKEA could only help)
There are an equal number of people who go to IKEA to buy little things as gifts or decor for their residences, or just to browse, maybe with a little money burning a hole in their pockets. These visitors wouldn't need their cars and could use the metrolink. Just some thoughts. It may indeed be a pipe dream, but I'll keep dreaming.
MUDArch3 wrote:There are an equal number of people who go to IKEA to buy little things as gifts or decor for their residences, or just to browse, maybe with a little money burning a hole in their pockets. These visitors wouldn't need their cars and could use the metrolink. Just some thoughts. It may indeed be a pipe dream, but I'll keep dreaming.
Perhaps due to their location, but having stood in line at Ikea numerous times I can tell you that while many come to figure out what they want they come back with the vehicle to load up. How many of each? Not sure. Does Ikea make their money of the small sales or bigger sales to massive for MetroLink? The bigger sales!
Union Station folks have been shopping around the idea of adding a pedestrian street with various sized shops across the back of the shed with a parking garage to the west of the station. I can imagine they might have shopped the idea of an Ikea to the Ikea folks.
^^Maybe MetroLink could start towing a little flatbed car behind the trains for people to haul their IKEA purchases.
The last couple pages of this thread is giving me a serious case of déjà vu. As I said before, IKEA has changed their market strategy a bit. They are now looking at urban locations, like the South Philly store, Brooklyn, and, I think, the Pittsburgh and Baltimore stores.
And Atlanta. With all the residential in the West Loft District, Plaza Square, etc. the area could be similar to what's shown below. The store is 230,000 sq. ft. and the entire development shown in 138 acres. I think the planned development is nice, but the more "organic" nature of Pine, Olive, Locust, etc. would make for an even better community IMO. For reference, the CORTEX area is ~180 acres. IMO - the land between Sarah and Vandeventer could be better used by a real mixed-use development and there would still be plenty of land for bio-tech etc. Perhaps demand would then dictate 6-8 story buildings instead of 2-4. Combining the old foundry site and this area would provide enough room for an urban Taget/TJ's/Ikea. Yes, I know I'm dreaming but this is one way it could work.
I don't pay much attention to ads, but I am quite sure they are running national ads now since they have stores in just about all of the major markets, plus a healthy online business. Denver, Cleveland, and St. Louis are the only top 20 metros with no IKEA.
Wierd that they don't have one in Denver yet. I'd think Denverites would eat that stuff up.
I've heard a few rumors latley that Ikea has 3 locations in mind for a St. Louis store. I don't know how much truth there is to them but these are the locations I have heard of.
Chesterfield:
Chesterfield Parkway and I-64 next to Chesterfield City Hall
West County:
Manchester Road and I-270 at the old quarry.
Hazelwood:
St. Louis Mills
From what I have heard the West County location is there preferred choice.
Those would all make sense, but I'd be surprised if St. Chuck County wasn't on the list, and that they wouldn't at least be considering a site somewhere in the city. Maybe they have already narrowed their list down though.
I would also be surprised if we don't hear an announcement in the next year.
My co-workers and I just had a discussion about IKEA and its scouting for sites in STL. We all would rather see them build the IKEA in West County than in the city. One of the co-workers said she would hate to go out there and pay 9.25% sales tax on things there, I agree. Plus, we hope it either goes in near Chesterfield Mall or West County quarry near the Scottrade HQ, closer to us and lower sales tax. I'll probably get flamed for that part about the sales tax, but I this is a discussion board and were all entitled to our own opinions.
I went to the IKEA in Broward County last month (Sawgrass Mills area, west of Ft. Lauderdale) and I bought a lot of stuff there for cheap! Sales tax was only 6.5%!!! I bought a lot of the things I couldn't bring back to STL on the plane so I will have my aunt and uncle drive my goods back for me. They are snowbirds down there, so gotta wait until later this month before I see my dining table set and tv stand.
The IKEA in Baltimore area is in a relatively distant suburb with a large shopping area and mall around it. If they were to use the same strategy in St. Louis, the Chesterfield valley would seem to be the most logical location.
I don't know who would be willing to build on the old quarry in Des Peres. The whole quarry has been filled in with dirt and the land will be settling forever causing pavement cracks in the parking lot and cracks in walls and possibly foundations for whatever building is built there. I would think any building would have to sink piers all the way down to the bottom of the quarry to keep the building from sinking.
