Let the three-year countdown begin.

After a decade of speculation about Ikea coming to Middle Tennessee, the contemporary Swedish furniture company announced long-awaited plans Thursday to open a new store in Nashville.

But fans must exercise some patience before they can shop for Ikea’s trademark build-it-yourself furniture and get its famous meatballs in Music City.

More:Ikea is finally coming to Nashville

Ikea intends to open its new Nashville store, set for a new 310-acre mixed-use development called Century Farms off Interstate 24, in the summer of 2020, the company said at a news conference, unveiling plans for its second store in Tennessee following a new Memphis store that opened in December.

Construction on the 341,000-square-foot Ikea store — which the company boasted will expand Ikea’s Southeast presence — is to begin in the spring of 2019.

Road, infrastructure work pushes back opening date

The slight hold-up: Ikea can’t start building until the site is made ready for development. And it can’t open until new roads, including a new Hickory Hollow Parkway interchange off Interstate 24, are built to provide access to the site. Federal officials have approved conceptual plans for the $25.7 million interstate project, but construction hasn’t started.

The timeline aside, Mayor Megan Barry and other Metro and state leaders joined Ikea representatives at Music City Center on Thursday to celebrate news of a new Nashville Ikea they say will be a regional draw and an economic driver for Antioch, a community that has been craving for a new anchor tenant ever since the demise of the old Hickory Hollow Mall.

"With stores in Atlanta, and Charlotte, and Cincinnati, and now, yes, even in Memphis, it’s about time we find a niche in Music City, right?” Joseph Roth, public affairs manager for Ikea’s expansion department, said to cheers.

Roth said the new store would serve the 140,000 existing Ikea shoppers in the Nashville market “and the countless new customers who have yet to experience the unique Ikea concept.”

Nashville Ikea to be larger than Memphis store

Ikea, founded in Sweden more than 70 years ago and brought to the United States in 1985, has drawn a national following for selling affordable yet fashionable furniture and home decor, all under one massive roof. Ikea has 390 stores in 48 countries and 43 stores in the U.S. A dozen more American stores are in the works.

The company, whose U.S. headquarters are based outside Philadelphia, calls itself a “destination retailer” that regularly draws customers from hours away.

The new Nashville store, to be modeled off Ikea’s standard architecture and stretching 36 acres, will include 1,110 parking spaces and feature a 450-seat cafeteria and food market serving Swedish and American foods. Ikea officials say it will be on the larger end of their stores and 70,000 square feet larger than the Memphis store.

The store is expected to generate 500 construction jobs and 250 permanent retail jobs. In a commitment to sustainability, the company says it is exploring the possibility of on-site power generation.

'It will be an experience'

“Today is a great day in Nashville,” said Bob Grimsley, real estate manager of the Nashville Ikea project, calling the Antioch location “just the right spot.” He called the Interstate 24 location, west of the interstate and south of the Bell Road exit, “both highly visible and very accessible to the entire market area.”

It will place the new Ikea 13 miles south of downtown and in close proximity to fast-growing Rutherford County, which includes Murfreesboro and Smyrna.

“We expect our Nashville location to have a regional draw,” he said, adding: “The Ikea Nashville store will be much more than just a large store on a large site. It will be an experience.”

For Nashville, the Ikea announcement has been a long time coming.

Talks go back nearly eight years for a new Ikea. The company picked the Antioch location over potential sites in Bellevue, downtown, near the Nashville International Airport and in Williamson County.

Barry talked up Ikea as a company with a vision of “creating a better place” through design. She also applauded its employment and environmental practices, and said Ikea’s entry to Nashville will mean big things for Antioch.

“We know that by bringing this to Antioch, this is going to revitalize and energize that community as well. Because any time great companies come to a place, they bring more, and they’re going to bring more and more to Antioch.”

Sale of family farm that went back to 1850s leads to Ikea

Now, if only it could open sooner, she joked.

“I’d sure like that to be the summer of 2019,” said Barry, who's up for re-election in August 2019. "I’m just saying.”

Barry was joined Thursday by Nashville’s southeast council members and most of the Davidson County Democratic Party state delegation.

The ambitious 310-acre Century Farms project, where the Ikea is planned, is being developed by Oldacre McDonald and Atlanta-based TPA Group.

The development also will 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.

Century Farms, in the works for more than two years, will be built on land that had belonged to the family of Mary Jane Turner Hurt since the 1850s. The Turner family sold the farm in 2015.

“We wanted something to come here that would turn the farm into something as important to you all as the farm has been to us,” Turner Hurt said. “We feel like with Ikea coming, our prayers were answered.”

Ikea called a 'catalyst' for Antioch

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

Although Ikea is not in line for city incentives as part of its expansion, Barry and the Metro Council in October approved road infrastructure upgrades totaling $5.5 million to accommodate the development of the site.

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. The much-needed Hickory Hollow Parkway interchange is covered with separate funds.

Ikea plans to soon file its zoning and site plan applications with Metro in hopes of receiving governmental approvals next year.

For years, Antioch-area council members and other southeast Nashville leaders have pushed for greater economic and community development. Although the area is the fastest growing part of the county, residents have often said they have been left out of major city projects.

Councilwoman Jacobia Dowell, whose Antioch-area district includes the Ikea site, called Ikea’s arrival “huge news for this area.” She said discussions for the Ikea project in Antioch go back three years but things came together quickly.

“I’m just thrilled,” she said. “We have been looking for someone to come in, purchase this property and serve as a catalyst to get our community back going. Oldacre McDonald has done that.

“I think it’s going to have the ability to turn our area completely around and make it a destination community again.”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.