New Ikea’s Still Coming to Town

The planned Ikea home-furnishings store in Costa Mesa is taking longer than expected to slog through the local bureaucracy.

That’s because it’s part of a larger “Home Ranch” project planned by landowner C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, which includes the development of office buildings.

Ikea said in May 1999 that it planned to build one of its largest West Coast home furnishing stores on an empty parcel between the San Diego Freeway and South Coast Drive, just east of Harbor Boulevard. The 300,000-square-foot store was slated to open early next year. But a Costa Mesa planner said the general plan amendment required for the overall project won’t likely make it to the City Council until about that time.

“[Ikea’s] still coming to town,” city planner Kimberly Brandt said. “We’re anticipating the environmental impact report on the project will be circulated at the end of October.”

In the meantime, the size of the store has stretched to about 308,000 square feet, she said.

Leslie Earnest covers retail businesses for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7832 and at leslie.Earnest@latimes.com.