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Everyone’s favorite blue and yellow organization (sorry, Michigan) is getting into U.S. office space, in San Francisco of all places.
Swedish furniture brand Ikea (through its sister brand Ingka Centers) is teaming up with flex office operator Industrious to bring its affiliated coworking brand, called Hej! Workshop, to San Francisco.
The 46,470-square-foot space will double as a showroom for Ikea’s business furniture line, and will be located on the third floor of Ingka Centers’ Ikea-anchored 250,000-square-foot retail destination (read: mall) on San Francisco’s Market Street.
Hej! has one other location in Stockholm.
“We’re co-creating with Ikea,” Industrious CEO Jamie Hodari told Commercial Observer. “I think it will be more whimsical and fun than the average Industrious, a sense of playfulness that we don’t always have in our design and our service.”
Industrious operates several other locations throughout San Francisco, and, despite the perhaps premature headlines of San Francisco’s fall from grace, its demand for flex office space hasn’t collapsed, said Hodari. It’s doing well, in fact. “We’ve been wanting to expand in San Francisco, and this was the market that Ikea picked, so it was a perfect fit.”
The Ingka retail development, at 945 Market Street just south of Union Square, is scheduled to open this fall. It will feature a blend of retail and entertainment venues imprinted with the brand’s signature Scandinavian touch.
“In this day and age if you want sleek and sexy, you’ve got lots of options,” said Hodari. “But, if you’re going to leave the house, going somewhere bright and fun might be the recipe a lot of people, and a lot of companies, are looking for.”
Clients at Hej!, which will feature both private suites and open areas, will be able to customize their workspaces with Ikea furniture.
But the real question is, will there be meatballs?
Chava Gourarie can be reached at cgourarie@commercialobserver.com.
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