The Swedish furniture giant Ikea, whose real estate company Ingka Centers announced on Tuesday the acquisition of the Italie Deux shopping center (Paris 13th arrondissement), plans to “relocate” its store there in the La Madeleine district, as announced on Tuesday, ensuring that all jobs would be retained.
“100% of the jobs at La Madeleine will be maintained and transferred to this new site,” said Emma Recco, director of strategy for the development of the activity of Ikea France, during a telephone press conference, specifying that around 200 people worked there today.
To justify this move, he explained that the Place d’Italie shopping center was located in a district “with a lot of potential and excellent accessibility, both by car and by transport”, and that the shopping center was equipped with logistics infrastructure, in particular docks delivery that could allow for “much smoother operations.”
Opening in 2024
Ikea currently plans to open its new store in 2024, according to Emma Recco, who however did not specify when the La Madeleine store would close.
In Paris, the Swedish group also has a store on rue de Rivoli (1st arrondissement) and a 750 m2 “design studio” on Daumesnil avenue (12th arrondissement), which will open its doors permanently on April 12.
Ingka Centers, the company owned by the Ingka group, which is the parent company of most of the world’s Ikea stores, announced on Monday that it had bought Italy Two, as well as an extension, ItaliK, and the neighboring Apollo office complex.
The financial lines of the operation were not specified by Ingka Centers, but the British real estate company Hammerson for its part announced on Monday the sale of its shares representing 25% of the capital of Italy Two, as well as the entire expansion of Italik, against 164 million euros.
In July 2019, Hammerson had sold three-quarters of the capital of the shopping center for 476 million euros to the real estate fund of the French insurer Axa, Axa IM – Real assets. Contacted on Monday by AFP, the latter entity confirmed that it had “sold the shares managed on behalf” of its clients, but refused to communicate the sale price.
Source: BFM TV
