New IKEA coming to Bay Area, but it will look different from other stores

Last week, Dublin City Council approved plans for a 317,000-sq.-ft. IKEA store off I-580 and Hacienda Dr. Construction is slated to begin in April 2020. About 60 percent of the lot will be occupied by a 93,000-square-foot "lifestyle center," which will include restaurants, shops and other storefronts. less Last week, Dublin City Council approved plans for a 317,000-sq.-ft. IKEA store off I-580 and Hacienda Dr. Construction is slated to begin in April 2020. About 60 percent of the lot will be occupied by a ... more Photo: Courtesy: IKEA Photo: Courtesy: IKEA Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close New IKEA coming to Bay Area, but it will look different from other stores 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

IKEA is coming to Dublin, but the new retail store will look different from those that came before it.

Last week, city council members approved the project by a 4-1 vote. Construction on the 317,000-square-foot store is set to begin April 2020, and should be finished 18 months later.

The store — the first new IKEA retailer in the Bay Area in 15 years — will be built on a 27-acre lot at the northwest corner of Interstate 580 and Hacienda Drive. About 60 percent of the lot will be occupied by a 93,000-square-foot "lifestyle center," which will include restaurants, shops and other storefronts.

The exterior of the store will feature 75-percent less yellow and blue than traditional IKEA retail stores, said Angele Robinson-Gaylord, the president of U.S. Property at IKEA, in an email.

Though the Dublin store will still feature those primary colors, so essential to the Swedish retailer's branding, the facade will also include some "gray and glass features" to "mirror the look and feel of other buildings in the area," Robinson-Gaylord said.

"The distinct architectural design of the building is unique to the Dublin IKEA and is a direct result of the Dublin community's feedback," she explained. "No other IKEA U.S. store reflects this design."

In addition to toning down the blues and yellows, IKEA agreed to build the store's parking lot underground and to pay the city a fee of $420,000 to build a public art piece in the plaza.

"At the council hearing, the mayor expressed a strong desire to have something special and iconic in the plaza," Robinson-Gaylord said. "We agreed to work with staff to make that happen."

The "community feedback" Robinson-Gaylord references has been heated and extensive. During an October city council meeting, the public comment period on the project ran late into the night. At 12:40 a.m. that night, the council decided to postpone the vote on the project to Nov. 8.

Alas, the squabbling goes back much further.

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In 2004, the city council approved the development of an IKEA retail store along I-580, but the company withdrew its application two years later.

After a series of development ventures came and went, IKEA acquired the abandoned land parcel once again in 2013. In the years since, the company has been engaged in a back and forth with the city of Dublin and its residents, some of whom feared the new megastore would bring too much traffic to the area.

A 2016 Change.org petition launched by local Tom Cignarella called the IKEA proposal "a bad idea."

"To focus on the most simple and tangible impact, think of the traffic impact this would have on the area," the petition said. More than 3,000 people have signed it.

IKEA officials have said increased traffic to the store shouldn't impact the morning commute on I-580 because it won't open until 10 a.m., after rush hour.

The company was prepared to sue the city if the project did not get approved, Robinson-Taylor said, though "consensus and collaboration was always the goal."

"It's been a long road," she continued, "but the work we've done together has created a stronger blueprint for a retail property that serves the needs of the community and represents the kind of development of which we can all be proud."

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

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