Ingka Centres has announced that they will bring IKEA into the city as the firm purchased the 6X6 Mall at 945 Market Street in SoMa, San Francisco. IKEA will be the anchor tenant, occupying 70,000 square feet, with 180,000 square feet of leasable space still available for future businesses. The move has provided hope for the city’s retail market in 2021, with work starting before the year’s end.
While the SF metro area has two existing IKEAs at Emeryville and Palo Alto, this new location will be unique as it is the first geared towards an urban consumer base.
Gerard Groener, Ingka Centres’ General Manager, said, “Our urban projects are all about getting closer to our customers. 6X6 is an impressive six-floor glass building, with smart modern design and internal areas that provide the ideal canvas to create something truly spectacular. We believe Ingka Centres can transform the performance of well-located assets like 6X6 by aligning their offers to how people want to spend their time.”
6×6 Mall, image via Ingka Centres
Ingka Group purchased the 6×6 Mall from Alexandria Real Estate Equities and TMG Partners’ joint venture, MSP Property LLC, for $260 million. The purchase is part of the Ingka Center’s shift since 2018 to respond to a changing and urbanizing retail environment. Given when this deal was made, in the late summer, it reflects a faith in the city and belief in the endurance of the urban market.
The company’s shift is indeed reflected in their Annual & Sustainability Summary Report of FY2018, in which Ingka Group wrote, “Value for time is more and more important, and we need to be where the many people live, work and socialize. With a digital and fulfillment backbone we can find new ways to meet more people in the city centres, enabling them to conveniently access our total offer close to where they are.”
The IKEA at 945 Market will be the company’s first downtown location in the United States, and second in the world, following Ingka Centre’s acquisition of Kings Mall in London. The company says they are considering forty other cities internationally for potential future sites. Its 70,000 square foot footprint is just twenty percent the size of its suburban counterpart. To ensure that options are not limited, the company is planning to adopt new space-efficient strategies.
The 6×6 Mall is across from Serif, a rising twelve-story mixed-use residential and hotel building designed by Handel Architects and developed by Group i.
The rendering attached to this story is a conceptual drawing, so it is not a final design. Given its preliminary nature, little else can be derived from it, although the unmistakable blue and yellow branding is likely to remain in some capacity.
The project requires approval from the city, but with the Mayor’s support, and because the building is already complete, it is unlikely that the project will not be approved.
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Three thumbs up to IKEA. I only hope their faith and vision in that hopeless part of Market Street pays off.