PATCHAY.COM has confirmed the opening of IKEA's 2nd Malaysian store in Kuala Lumpur.

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This comes a week after franchise holder and Singapore-based Ikano Retail Asia confirmed the opening of Thailand's first IKEA store later this year and a proposed plan for second and third Thai outlets within the next 5 years.

Similarly and subsequently, IKEA has confirmed the opening of its second store in Kuala Lumpur by 2013 and third store at Johor Bahru, Malaysia's second largest city, within the next few years.

It was further speculated that a fourth store will be in Penang.

The second Kuala Lumpur store will be built within the redevelopment of government quarters in Jalan Cochrane. Work is expected to start soon once after the civil servants residing there vacate their homes by June 2011.

Back in 2000, Boustead Group developed its jewel township Mutiara Damansara by bringing in IKEA's first megastore in Asia and building Ikano Power Centre (now renamed as IPC Shopping Centre) adjacent to it.

It was reported that 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB), the land owner of the government quarters in Jalan Cochrane has awarded Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) to build apartments for government servants in the said area. Interestingly, LTAT is the single largest shareholder of the Boustead Group.

This time the IKEA store will be connected to a proposed integrated development which will also feature a shopping mall, serviced apartments, a hotel and the proposed underground MRT station.

The proposed integrated development will be undertaken as a joint venture with IKEA's local franchisor, Ikano Corp Sdn Bhd.