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You Will Soon Be Able To Live Inside The Burbank Ikea
Have you ever felt like you could *literally* live inside Ikea? Well, soon, you can! Kind of.
ABC-7 reports that Crown Realty and Development has $400 million invested in plans to revitalize downtown Burbank, which includes converting the current Ikea site in Burbank into a 765-unit apartment complex, plus retail space. Meanwhile, Ikea will move to a new site in Burbank, plans that have been in the works since 2012. It's moving right along: ground was broken on this new Ikea—slated to be the largest in America—in September.
The Ikea conversion is part of some big plans for the Burbank Town Center. According to the L.A. Times, Crown Realty and Development's would like to include an outdoor ice rink and an area for a farmer's market.
Let's just say we're a fan of this genius plan. While we're hardly development experts, we do watch a lot of HGTV, and can easily see how transforming an Ikea store into housing could be the smoothest building renovation ever. Think about it: all the contractors have to do to "transform" the enormous home furnishing store into, actual homes is to put up a few walls for privacy's sake.
Everything else you could want for an apartment space is already there: you've got kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, stunning artwork, taped-off pathways to make sure you never get lost, and a delicious in-house restaurant for when you're just not in the mood to cook. IT'S PERFECT.
L.A.'s housing crisis ins't going away any time soon, and this could be a new experiment in communal living. We're all for it.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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