IKEA Snaps Up Another Shopping Center As Property Arm Bets On Malls

It seems that you just can’t stop retailers buying up shopping centers right now.

In the same week that British sports-to-fashion retail group Frasers announced that is had acquired a factory outlet center in the north of England, IKEA’s real estate sibling snapped up its second U.K. mall.

Ingka Centres, part of the Ingka Group which also includes IKEA Retail, is now the owner of Brighton’s main shopping center, Churchill Square, situated on England’s south coast, which adds to its Paris acquisition, plus openings in San Francisco and Toronto.

Part of the redevelopment plan includes bringing a new IKEA City format store to the city center mall as IKEA continues to focus on urban locations for its European expansion.

Churchill Square currently features a mix of retail and dining outlets, including Inditex, Apple
AAPL
, Next, H&M, Urban Outfitters and Levi’s, alongside a food court with McDonald’s, Krispy Kreme and Ed’s Easy Diner. And Ingka Centres has also acquired Chartwell Court, a residential tower block on the site, two attached parking lots and a leasehold on a third car lot.

The deal, estimated to be worth nearly $180 million, will see the furniture retailer convert the empty former Debenhams department store in the center into a new IKEA store and the deal comes three years after it bought Kings Mall in Hammersmith, where it opened its smaller-format store also in an ex-Debenhams unit and transformed the center’s shopping mix.

IKEA In Brighton

The new IKEA City store will offer a mix of the brand’s most popular products, with many available for immediate purchase or delivery via zero-emission vehicles, IKEA said.

In addition, Ingka Centres intends to develop Churchill Square by adapting its retail offer to focus on community needs and has pledged to invest in Churchill Square’s infrastructure to help drive a local circular economy

Future investments will include improvements to energy efficiency to bring the asset up to BREEAM excellent standards.

Cindy Andersen, Ingka Centres’ Managing Director, said: “Brighton is known as a welcoming and progressive city, so it is a real privilege to take up responsibility for delivering a revitalized meeting place of which the many people can be truly proud.

“We are excited to strengthen our portfolio with a well-established shopping destination in the heart of the vibrant and growing city of Brighton. It fits perfectly into our global expansion strategy, allowing us to transform a traditional retail space to a meeting place that is much more than just a place to shop.”

Community-Focused Retail

Churchill Square is located on Brighton’s central shopping main street and is within walking distance of the city’s seafront and the main railway station.

The site has three parking lots where Ingka Centres intends to extend the number of EV charging points, as well as promote the use of public transport to “reflect the new IKEA city centre offer, which encourages home delivery”.

Andersen added: “We’ve proven in Hammersmith that traditional shopping centers have a strong future when they are adapted and constantly evolving to match the real needs of local communities,”

IKEA is currently in the process of converting the Grade II listed former Topshop flagship on Oxford Street in London’s West End for a new store, although the retailer has delayed the opening date to Fall 2024, attributing the year-long delay to “ensuring optimal preservation” of the building.