Ikea is buying the 20-acre parcel from Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp., which will retain the adjacent five acres for development of 40,000 sf of retail. Joseph Roth, with the Sweden-based furniture retailer's North American operations, based in Plymouth Meeting, PA, declined to disclose the price of the land.

He tells GlobeSt.com, "groundbreaking is scheduled for this summer with a grand opening planned for summer 2007." This will be Ikea's second location in the Southeast, and it follows a June 2005 opening in Atlanta. Roth says, "we had focused on Broward County, and this is a wonderful location by two major interstates with high visibility and great access to not only Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, but also the western coast of Florida across Alligator Alley. We're in discussions with cities and real estate brokers about other potential Florida locations, but, for now, will concentrate on Sunrise."

As with other Ikea units, this will have a children's play area and a 250-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties. It will also include three model homes, 50 room settings and a children's Ikea area in the showroom.

"Ikea's one of the strongest retailers in the world," says Nancy Brusher, VP of marketing for Stiles. "We're very excited that they chose Gateway at Sawgrass for their first Florida location." She tells GlobeSt.com her company plans to break ground in late summer or early fall this year. The Stiles portion will contain specialty shops and restaurants, and "negotiations are under way with several potential tenants."