Ikea Merriam Kansas city

Ikea's newest store, in Merriam, Kansas, is one of two U.S. locations the company opened this year. The Swedish retailer has been eyeing sites in Northeast Ohio, including property near Tiedeman Road and Interstate 480 in Brooklyn.

(Ikea)

BROOKLYN, Ohio -- LeBron James. The 2016 Republican National Convention. And now ... Ikea?

Here's a bit of holiday cheer for Northeast Ohio shoppers: We might be a step closer to landing the retail behemoth, that palace of assemble-it-yourself furniture, oddly named knickknacks and Swedish meatballs.

The Plain Dealer Publishing Co. has signed a contract to sell 16 acres in the suburb of Brooklyn to Ikea. In an interview this week, Plain Dealer General Manager Virginia Wang confirmed that a contract exists. But she cautioned that the timeline is uncertain. The deal involves lots of contingencies. And a purchase agreement doesn't necessarily mean that a project will happen.

"It's a long process," Wang said. "You're not going to see a store for a while, quite a while."

She wouldn't divulge contract terms or the proposed sale price for the land, which sits north of The Plain Dealer's Tiedeman Road printing plant, just off Interstate 480. The property abuts city-owned land that also could be in play, since Ikea typically needs 20 to 30 acres to accommodate a massive store and parking.

Ikea spokesman Joseph Roth said the retailer has been eyeing Cleveland for years. But, he stressed, the company hasn't made any firm decisions. Roth wouldn't discuss the Brooklyn site or any other properties Ikea has considered.

"We've said for quite a while that we are very interested in the Cleveland metropolitan area," Roth said. "We have many customers there, and we are evaluating opportunities. I can't speak specifically about any of the opportunities, even if you may be aware of one of them. I can say, at this time, we have not committed to a timeframe, let alone a specific location."

Brooklyn's mayor and economic development director did not respond to requests for comment. City Council President Katherine Gallagher said "a confidential client" is looking at city-owned property next to The Plain Dealer facility. "We're not going to jeopardize any kind of contracts or agreements that we have," Gallagher added, declining to comment further.

On Facebook, where Ikea teases news about new stores, Northeast Ohio customers often ask the retailer to add a Cleveland-area location. Pittsburgh is the closest store for Clevelanders, followed by Canton, Michigan, and then West Chester, near Cincinnati. The privately held Swedish company has 40 stores in the United States and is very deliberate about site selection.

Last year, Ikea didn't open a single U.S. store. This year, the company opened two stores, in Miami, Florida, and the Kansas City area. A St. Louis store will open next year, and Ikea announced plans this week for a project in Memphis, Tennessee.

The typical Ikea store ranges from 250,000 to 400,000 square feet. In densely populated areas where undeveloped land is hard to find, the company will squeeze onto a smaller size by elevating a store above parking.

"That's one of the challenges facing us in the Cleveland area," Roth said. "It's such an established and developed metropolitan area that the availability of land has been challenging in terms of finding possible sites. That's why we have been evaluating different sites over the years and ... not actually committing to them."

Only a handful of Northeast Ohio properties meet Ikea's needs for size, freeway access and visibility. There's land between Cleveland and Akron, along Route 8, for example. And there's the 70-plus-acre Pinecrest site, earmarked for a large mixed-use project, just off Interstate 271 and Harvard Road in Orange.

Ikea has looked at Pinecrest, said Bobby Benjamin of Goodman Real Estate Services Group LLC, which is working on the project with Fairmount Properties of Cleveland. The current zoning on that property - the result of negotiations between developers and the village and a 2013 public vote - doesn't permit big-box stores.

Benjamin, an Ikea shopper who says his apartment is 95 percent furnished with the retailer's wares, wouldn't speculate on other sites the company might be assessing. But he said the Brooklyn property is a logical contender.

"The visibility will probably be killer," he said. "They're taking advantage of the highest traffic of probably any freeway in Cleveland. The density is good. It's further from Pittsburgh. There are a lot of things to recommend it. I think it's good, but since I'm not making any money off it, how good can it be?"