Clint Engel
75,000 square foot building under way

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea will relocate its North American corporate offices late this year to new space next to its Conshohocken store — one exit down Interstate 476 from its current location in Plymouth Township.

The three-level, 75,000-sqare-foot headquarters is under construction on four acres along Alan Wood Road on the southwestern side of the 325,000-square-foot Conshohocken store, which replaced Ikea’s Plymouth Meeting store in January 2003.

When it opens in November or December, the facility will replace the roughly 60,000-square-foot current office and be home to about 350 employee in various departments including retail management, sales, marketing, retail expansion, distribution and purchasing.

Ikea said the new space “will accommodate the company’s current structure and allow it to meet the professional and technological needs that have arisen in the past 20 years.”

Ikea began leasing space at it current location in 1986, gradually increasing it square footage until it acquired the property in 1995.

“While we conceptually are the same company we were 20 years ago, the size and functionality of our organization and office needs have grown and changed,” said Pernille Lopez, Ikea North America president. “It is exciting to have a new office that we can plan from the ground up — with plenty of meeting rooms, technological amenities and a more efficient use of space.”

The company would not disclose its investment in the new building.

Ikea operates more than 230 stores in 33 countries, including 27 in the United States and 11 in Canada.