After a long odyssey to bring an Ikea to Nashville, the popular Swedish furniture company is set to announce plans for a new retail store off Interstate 24 in Antioch, multiple sources confirmed to The Tennessean.

The company will announce Thursday morning that it plans to build the store at the mixed-use Century Farms property in southeast Nashville, where offices for Franklin-based Community Health Systems, town homes and other retail are planned. Metro has chipped in millions in infrastructure work at the site.

The Nashville expansion, a major boon for the Antioch area, comes just months after Ikea opened a $64 million, 271,000-square-foot store in Memphis, which marked the company’s entry into Tennessee.

A news release sent late Wednesday by Ikea following The Tennessean's initial report confirmed the company's plans to expand to Nashville.

Ikea representatives and Nashville Mayor Megan Barry are holding a news conference at 10 a.m. at Music City Center to announce additional details about the project, including a projected opening date, size and more on the location.

"The proposed IKEA Nashville would be the second such store in the state, complementing the Swedish company’s Memphis store that opened December 2016," the company said in a brief statement

The company picked the site in Antioch — which has craved a new anchor attraction ever since the demise of the Hickory Hollow Mall a decade ago — over several other potential sites in Nashville. They include sites near the Nashville International Airport, downtown and Bellevue, as well as Williamson County.

“There was a huge roar from the whole Antioch area that went 'yes!' when they heard that,” said state Rep. Sherry Jones, who has represented the Antioch area on the Metro Council and then in the legislature for nearly 32 years.

“We’ve been trying to get Ikea to come to this area for a number of years," she said. "So we are really excited that it’s coming. We know that Ikeas bring other retail business, that they help the areas they enter expand and property value goes up. So we are just more than thrilled to have them.”

There are believed to be no city incentives in place for the company, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Phil Martin, a spokesman for Oldacre McDonald, the developer and owner of Century Farms, declined to comment. Atlanta-based TPA Group is partnered with Oldacre McDonald on the Century Farms development.

► Related:Ikea lays out vision for Nashville location

For more than five years, rumors have buzzed about Ikea opening a store in rapidly growing Middle Tennessee.

The 2014 announcement of the new Memphis store quieted those talks momentarily, but chatter picked up again last year after The Tennessean reported Ikea was scouring multiple Nashville locations near interstates.

Ikea announced in April it planned a new store for Columbus, Ohio. In its news release, the company touted that project as creating 500 construction jobs and 300 retail jobs.

► Related:Ikea scours areas around Nashville's interstates for site

Ikea has 390 stores in 48 countries, including 43 in the United States, according to the company. Their stores typically feature several stories of furniture goods, plus an array of food service offerings.

The ambitious 310-acre Century Farms project, in the works for more than two years, is to include a 240,000-square-foot shared service center for the hospital chain Community Health Systems, housing 2,000 employees; a 300-unit town home project; restaurants; and retail.

As part of the retail component, the former Target store at 5330 Cane Ridge Road was remodeled to house specialty retail tenants Conn's HomePlus and Floor & Decor.

Barry and the Metro Council in October approved road infrastructure upgrades totaling $5.5 million to accommodate the development of the site.

► Related:Metro Council considers $5.5M for Antioch project

Work includes a portion of the new Cane Ridge Parkway planned for the site as well as new turn lanes and traffic signals on Old Franklin Road to improve access to Community Health Systems.

Oldacre McDonald and TPA Group are covering the remainder of the overall $6.7 million to $10.3 million cost of the infrastructure improvements.

In addition, planned improvements to the Hickory Hollow Parkway and Interstate 24 interchange, carrying an estimated price tag of $25.7 million, are designed to direct traffic congestion into Century Farms. Developers have said the project is crucial to improving access to the site.

Councilwoman Jacobia Dowell, whose district includes the planned Ikea location, declined to comment, saying she wants to wait until the company announces the store before weighing in.