Bought by Ikea, the Italie Deux shopping center will house the remains of the furniture giant’s store in the La Madeleine district. This Tuesday, the land of Ikea
Ingka Centers has announced the takeover of Italie Deux, and plans to “relocate” its first Parisian establishment there. All “the jobs of La Madeleine will be maintained and transferred to this new site”, assured during a telephone press briefing Emma Recco, director of the strategy for the development of the Ikea France activity, specifying that around 200 people there were working to date.
To justify this transfer, she explained that the Place d’Italie shopping center was located in a district “with a lot of potential and excellent accessibility, both by car and by transport”. The shopping center would also be equipped with logistics infrastructure, including delivery docks that could allow “much more fluid operations”.
Ikea currently plans to open its new store in 2024, according to Emma Recco, who however did not specify when the La Madeleine store would close.
A “design workshop” opens its doors in mid-April
In Paris, the Swedish group also has a store on rue de Rivoli (1st arrondissement) and a “design workshop” of 750 m2 on avenue Daumesnil (12th arrondissement), which should open its doors permanently on April 12. Ingka Centers, the property company of the Ingka group, which is the parent company of most Ikea stores in the world, announced on Monday that it had bought Italy Two as well as an extension, ItaliK, and the neighboring Apollo office complex.
The financial outlines of the operation have not been specified by Ingka Centres, but the British property company Hammerson for its part announced on Monday the sale of its shares representing 25% of the capital of Italy Two, as well as all of the Italik extension, against 164 million euros.
In July 2019, Hammerson had sold three quarters of the capital of the shopping center for 476 million euros to the real estate fund of the French insurer Axa, Axa IM – Real assets. Contacted Monday by AFP, the latter entity confirmed that it had “sold the shares managed on behalf” of its clients but refused to communicate on the sale price.