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How Swede It Is
On Sargent Drive did Ikea a stately retail dome decree
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Business New Haven
9/15/2003
By: Michael C. Bingham
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More than a month after ground was literally broken, a ceremonial groundbreaking took place September 4 at 500 Sargent Drive on the new 306,000-square-foot Ikea store scheduled to open in July 2004.
The new facility, adjacent to the former Pirelli building designed by Marcel Breuer, will be a warehousing and retail distribution center for furniture and housewares, and will feature a cafeteria-style restaurant that will specialize in Swedish cuisine.
According to city and Ikea officials, the development will generate more than 400 new jobs and more than $1 million in annual tax revenues.
"All of know that Ikea will not only be a wonderful retailer in the region," said New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. at the press event, "but also a great neighbor and partner to the city and greater New Haven."
While a short distance away Yale union workers walked picket lines in a quest for better benefits and higher pay, Ikea seemed to promise a square deal for employees at the new store. According to local Alderwoman Hazelann D. Woodell (D-6), Ikea pledged to provide medical insurance benefits to all employees, both full- and part-time.
Gateway Community College will partner with the retailer and the city to provide specialized job training for new Ikea workers, according to Gateway President Dorsey Kendrick.
The $10.8 billion retailer portrays itself as a "socially responsible and conscientious member of the communities where we live and work." Said Ikea’s Patrick Smith, "I would personally consider this [project] a failure if these jobs did not go to New Haven residents."
According to Smith, Ikea closed on the 20-acre site at the intersection of I-95 and I-91 in March. The property includes the architecturally significant Pirelli building, although no use is planned for it currently, and it is presumed that Ikea will seek to lease the building to another user.
The Sargent Drive facility will become Ikea’s first store in New England. An additional store in Somerville, Mass. is planned for groundbreaking some time next year.
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