Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA will invest 33 million euro ($35.4 million) in the first phase of construction of Designer Outlet Croatia, Zagreb-based media reported.
Works on the project are due to begin next year, while the completion of the first phase is expected in 2018, news daily Vecernji list quoted Stefan Vanoverbeke, country manager for IKEA South East Europe, as saying on Wednesday.
The fashion outlet will be located next to IKEA's current department store in Zagreb and will initially spread over 15,000 sq m and consist of 90 shops. The second construction phase, worth a further 21 million euro, will see the retail area expand by 60 stores.
The third and last phase, to include the construction of a hypermarket, additional retail stores, gas station and two fast food chains, will boost IKEA's total investment in the project to 88 million euro.
IKEA's investment in Croatia, including the current department stores, will thus grow to a total of 188 million euro, Vanoverbeke said.
In IKEA's second year of operation in Croatia, from September 1 to August 31, the world's largest furniture retailer recorded 567.7 million kuna ($81.1 million/75.5 million euro) in sales, up from 535.9 million kuna a year earlier.
The Swedish company entered the Croatian market in August 2014 with a store in Zagreb.
Elsewhere in Southeast Europe, IKEA is present in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. In June, the furniture retailer was issued a construction permit for a store in Belgrade, which will be its first in Serbia.
($=0.931746 euro)