Ingka Centres. After London, head for San Francisco

Ingka Centres, the Swedish giant’s commercial property arm is betting on city centre shopping centres. Announcing the opening for Autumn 2021 of an urban shopping centre in the heart of San Francisco (on 24,000 sq.m GLA, including approximately 6,500 sq.m GLA reserved for a small city Ikea store), the real estate arm of the world’s leading furniture manufacturer is continuing its strategy of repositioning towards the city centre. “We see urbanisation continuing. The younger generation continues to flock to the city centre. We are seeing more and more people without cars. Instead of asking people constantly to travel to us, we have to move closer, to be more visible.” said Gerard Groener, Managing Director of Ingka Centres.  Ingka Group, to which Ingka Centres belongs, has a turnover of €41.3 billion for the financial year ending August 2019, 13% of which is earned in the U.S.A. 

Sucharita Kodali, an Analyst at Forrester Research, believes the Swedish group has an advantage over other property companies due to brand strength. Ingka Centres bought the site of 945 Market St., a 6-storey glass building called 6×6, that was originally intended to be a JC Penney or Target, then a Primark or Top Shop store. The land has been for sale since 2016 and may have now been even cheaper due to Covid-19, with a total cost (including purchase and reconstruction) of US$260 million.