First piece of Home Ranch opening

Paul Clinton

A flagship IKEA store, the first piece of the 93-acre Home Ranch

development puzzle, will open Wednesday after more than three years

of meticulous planning and a few dabs of controversy along the way.

With its spacious two-story store, IKEA Orange County Costa Mesa,

as it will be formally known, more than doubles the size of its

Tustin Marketplace location, which will close Monday.

“Without question, this is a better location,” said Don Collins,

the store’s manager. “Costa Mesa is very centralized.”

The new IKEA, more than double the size of the Tustin location,

offers more than 9,000 products and 308,000 square feet of space.

Most agree that the new IKEA will also serve as a boon to the

city’s economy by chipping in at least $1 million a year in sales tax

revenue, adding 437 new jobs and offering benefits to local schools,

among other economic stimuli.

IKEA has had complaints from residents living near the store about

its size, its prominent blue-and-yellow color scheme and the

potential for more traffic snarls on Harbor Boulevard and South Coast

Drive.

“If our city can promote businesses that draw attention to Costa

Mesa, then that’s kind of cool,” newly appointed Councilman Mike

Scheafer said. “[The blue color] is not my favorite color, but from a

marketing standpoint, it’s great for IKEA. By having that identity,

they’ve helped themselves.”

IKEA, which is rolling out nine new stores in North America this

year, will close its Tustin store on Monday and move its operations

into the larger Costa Mesa store, said Joseph Roth, IKEA’s director

of public affairs.

The company must fill the Tustin location with another tenant, per

its lease with the Irvine Co., Roth said.

Unlike the Tustin store, the IKEA in Costa Mesa offers six model

homes for customers, an extensive children’s section and a 220-seat

restaurant. It is similar to an IKEA that opened in Covina on May 7.

As IKEA managers began to unveil plans for their project in August

1999, a group of Mesa Verde residents objected to design plans. To

assuage fears that the project could become an eyesore, IKEA managers

offered a compromise.

The building’s navy blue side panels were softened with a touch of

gray. Large glass atriums were installed to break up the facades.

Extensive landscaping was done at the site.

Councilman Allan Mansoor, who counts himself as an opponent, said

he still isn’t convinced the retailer will be a boon to the city.

“The end result is that we’re going to have more traffic, but

what’s done is done,” Mansoor said. “No doubt, I like landscaping,

but a huge building is a huge building.”

IKEA managers were able to build a consensus in the city that

supported their store, which cost between $60 million and $70

million.

“They saw us as another big box retailer,” Collins said. “But we

are a one-of-a-kind retailer. When we started getting that message to

the community, they said, ‘Hey, you are different.’”

The store’s economic benefits to the city should be substantial.

IKEA has guaranteed $1 million in sales tax revenue for the first

five years. Since the store owns its 20-acre parcel, it will also

pays out property taxes.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is set to receive

$225,000 in annual tax revenue from the land, in addition to a

one-time $90,000 developer’s fee.

IKEA has also promised to redecorate one room -- either the

library or media room -- of each of Costa Mesa’s 17 public schools.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].