IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings retailer with a North American headquarters in Conshohocken, announced it is submitting plans to the city of Oak Creek, Wis., for a store that would be the company’s first in the state and increase its presence in the Midwest.

Pending approvals, construction of IKEA Oak Creek could begin in Spring 2017 with an opening in summer 2018. Located approximately 12 miles south of downtown Milwaukee, the 295,000-square-foot proposed store and its approximately 1,200 parking spaces would be built on 29 acres at the northwestern corner of Interstate 94 and Drexel Avenue.

Store plans reflect the same unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide.

“We are excited at the possibility of growing our Midwestern U.S. presence with a Milwaukee-area store,” said Ikea U.S. President Lars Petersson. “A location in this retail corridor would provide our already 206,000 Milwaukee-area customers their own store and introduce the unique IKEA shopping experience to others throughout Wisconsin.”

IKEA Oak Creek would feature nearly 10,000 exclusively designed items, 50 inspirational room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children’s play area, and a 300-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes.

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