IKEA, the Swedish furniture store chain with five retail locations in Florida, has no plans to announce a new store in the Fort Myers area, according to its media relations team.

John Talmage, economic development director for Lee County, said he has not had any discussions with IKEA, and Lee County Director of Communications Betsy Clayton said there were no permit applications or any email communications between the county and the furniture store.

Real estate experts across Southwest Florida said they were excited but also perplexed by recent reports from other news outlets and social media proclaiming IKEA was coming to Fort Myers, because none of them had heard anything about it.

If IKEA is working behind the scenes to plan a new store, no one would disclose it.

“I really have no idea,” said Justin Thibaut, CEO of LSI Companies. “I’m not working with them.”

“No,” said Chase Mayhugh, a broker with Mayhugh Commercial Advisors, when asked if he was working with IKEA on acquiring land.

“We can’t support a 300,000-square-foot store, but we certainly can support a small-to-midsized location,” said Jerry Messonnier, a broker with Lee & Associates Naples-Fort Myers.

IKEA stores typically comprise 300,000 square feet and require about 12 acres of land on which to build. They look like industrial real estate on the outside, but they’re more like Disney World for furniture and home goods shoppers on the inside: experiential retail on a grand scale.

Jim Shiebler, a senior vice president with CBRE, could not speak specifically about IKEA, but he said major retailers such as IKEA only plant their flag for multiple millions of customers.

“Generally speaking, every retailer has their sweet spot for metrics,” Shiebler said. “You don’t want to have a lower-end business or offering or service in a very wealthy trade area. And the opposite is true. You don’t want to have a wealthy business in a low-income area. You’re talking huge density levels and solid income levels followed by solid migration patterns. You need an ample population stream.”

A large chain seeks 15,000 residents within a mile, 50,000 residents within 3 miles and 150,000 within 5 miles, Shiebler said. Southwest Florida’s sprawling population does not have such a density.

“Traffic count is another,” Shiebler said. “You’re going to want numerous access points. In addition to having at least 50,000 traffic count at the minimum.”

Southwest Florida has a population of about 1.2 million, a fraction of the five cities in which IKEA has locations:

Tampa’s area eclipses 3 million people.

Sunrise in Broward County with a population of almost 2 million.

Miami-Dade County with about 3 million people.

Orlando has about 2.1 million people, and Jacksonville has about 1.3 million people.

“I would be shocked to see IKEA in Southwest Florida with a store format inside at least the next five to 10 years, probably longer,” said Matt Simmons, a property appraiser with Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons. “But that’s not to say they couldn’t appear in Southwest Florida in some other type of format.”

This year, IKEA has opened a Plan and Order point in Scottsdale, Arizona, and three others in California, plus a separate pick-up location in Santa Monica — but nothing in Florida.

IKEA Plan and Order points are located near large population bases for customers to plan big projects, such as kitchen, bathroom and closet remodeling with expert help and without the distraction of endless aisles of furniture.

IKEA does have a Southwest Florida pickup facility in cooperation with RXO at 7916 Drew Circle, off Alico Road in south Fort Myers, but this is not a retail location.

The full statement received this week by Gulfshore Business from IKEA US Press said: “At IKEA, we are always looking at new opportunities for expansion and growth. As we continue to transform our business, we are considering new ways to meet our customers’ needs across the U.S. However, IKEA has not announced any plans for a new location in Fort Myers.”

Gary Tasman, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in Southwest Florida, said he thinks the region could support an IKEA store.

“And I’ll tell you why,” Tasman said. “If you think of the number of rooftops we have today, it’s lower than what they would like to see. But there’s two redeeming factors that would offset that. It’s the number of seasonal residents we have, and the No. 2, the rate of growth that we’re experiencing.

“Our demographics are generally getting younger. If you’re making a 20-year commitment to something, all the 60 year olds are going to be 80, and all the 14 year olds are going to be 34. If you look at the population growth, I don’t think it’s so far out.”

Simmons, however, noted the big differences between the big-box stores Southwest Florida has — Costco, Sam’s Club, B.J.’s Wholesale Club, etc. — and the one it does not have in IKEA.

All the other stores devote considerable space to selling food, which creates a constant churn of customers.

IKEA sells its share of Swedish meatballs, but it’s forte is furniture, which isn’t a product most people buy on a weekly or even monthly basis.

“That’s why they need really dense population centers,” Simmons said. “The experience of IKEA, it’s in like an industrial format with the building, but it’s a retail experience. They need a ton of shoppers available to fill that space as they go through, and purchasing furniture is an infrequent enough of an activity for most people, there’s just not enough consumers to meet the demand.”