Ikea has abruptly halted its highly anticipated plans to build a store in Nashville, according to a source familiar with the decision from the Swedish furniture company.
The move – a major blow to the Antioch neighborhood where it would have located – comes as the popular retailer is embracing a new business model that will focus on online shopping, not the huge brick-and-mortar stores for which the company is best known.
Ikea, which has recently pulled out of planned stores in Phoenix and Raleigh, N.C. because of the same strategy, isn't ditching Nashville over doubts about the strength of the Middle Tennessee market and economy, the source said.
Ikea's decision from Nashville comes almost exactly one year after Ikea announced a year ago that it would build a 341,000-square-foot store in Antioch off Interstate 24, then tentatively set to open in 2020. The city committed to investing tens of millions of dollars into infrastructure changes to make the project viable.
Ikea executives held a flashy news conference at the time with then-Mayor Megan Barry, state lawmakers and council members on hand to announce Nashville's big get.
Nashville had been rumored for an Ikea store for nearly a decade, and its decision to build in Antioch was billed as a huge boon for a part of town that has been craving for a new anchor tenant ever since the demise of the old Hickory Hollow Mall.
Ikea representatives did not return numerous phone calls and emails from The Tennessean on Tuesday.
Mayor David Briley's office declined to comment on Ikea's plans. Mayor's Office Press Secretary Judith Byrd in an email said the mayor "remains committed to investment in connectivity in fast-growing areas of the city, including this project in partnership with the state."
But Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher, the council's Budget and Finance Committee chairwoman, confirmed that Matt Wiltshire, the mayor's office director of economic and community development, informed her Tuesday that Ikea has scrapped its plans for a Nashville store.
"It would have been both a great fit for Ikea, Antioch and Southeast Davidson County, and Nashville as a whole," said Vercher, who expressed disappointment with the news.
"We have good strong growth. We have a good strong economy. We're still adding jobs. But if Ikea is reevaluating its business model, then I understand it."
The Nashville store had been pegged for a future 310-acre retail and residential complex called Century Farms off Interstate 24 in Antioch led by developer Mark McDonald, whose firm Oldacre McDonald is building the commercial complex.
"We are aware of changes to IKEA's national development strategy but our agreement with the company is currently intact," McDonald said in a written statement. "Oldacre McDonald is on schedule in creating this highly desirable commercial, retail and residential destination that will further enhance the quality of life in southeastern Davidson County.”
The city had plannied to construct a new Hickory Hollow Parkway interchange to allow access to the site.
Ikea's first Tennessee location opened in Memphis in 2016.
Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarriosn.
