Burbank has some new renovations coming its way. A new and bigger Ikea location will open in Spring 2017. Ikea is a Swedish home furnishing company who already has a smaller location in Burbank and many locations worldwide. This will be a $400 million dollar project.

The location will be the biggest location is the country, almost twice as big as the location currently in Burbank. That store opened in 1990.  Nineteen buildings which used to house Western Studio Services were torn down in order to build the store. The current place holder for the biggest store in the states is located in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is 6,000 square feet smaller than the location in construction now. The largest Ikea store in the world is located near Seoul, South Korea. At 635,070 sq ft, it’s almost as big as the Louvre Museum in Paris.

What Happens to the Old Burbank IKEA?

With a newer and bigger location opening up, what will happen to the old location located on San Fernando Rd. A redevelopment plan call I Heart Burbank is in process to support the new developments coming to the city. 40,000 sq ft of the location will be a residential area. There will be plenty of room for farmers markets to take place. 765 multifamily units will be built at 600 n San Fernando Blvd and due to the new renovations that are going to take place at the Burbank Town Center 70 for sale units will be built at 800 N San Fernando Blvd.

The renovation process will begin in January of 2017 and should take about 11 months to complete. The project will cost about 60 million dollars. The whole Ikea project should finish by 2020.

The new residential buildings that have been brought into the plan are being built to help the housing crisis in Burbank, or so it is said. In the last 15 years, the city has not permitted any new housing developments. Some Burbank residents are concerned about the city losing its small cozy city feel and are complaining about the traffic that may occur because of the new developments.

How you feel about the new developments coming to the city?