Livat—the much-anticipated Market Street mall—may open its Ikea store sooner than expected—reports the San Francisco Business Times. 

The 87,000-square-foot furniture store at the center of the eagerly awaited Livat mall may open as early as May, according to reporting from the Business Times. A multilevel food hall with the working title Saluhall is also expected to open by the end of 2023. 

In December, Ingka Centres, the property’s developer and Ikea sister company, announced that Livat would open by the end of the year, followed by the Ikea store in late 2023. The company unveiled its concept for Saluhall, a Scandinavian-style “market hall” specializing in plant-based Nordic street food, in a November 2022 press release. 

"The first location of Saluhall is not confirmed yet but we hope to be able to announce it soon," Ingka Centres told the SF Business Times. 

A source told the local publication that details of the food hall are still being ironed out, including the name of the marketplace, and that leases with other retail tenants have not yet been finalized. A venture backed by professional golfer Rory McIlRoy has expressed interest in developing an “adult mini golf facility” at the mall. Coworking company Industrious may also lease 45,000 square feet of office space at the location, but neither entity has inked deals yet, according to the SF Business Times. The source noted that the developer is handling retail leasing directly in order to find tenants that fit Livat’s Swedish concept of “lively gathering.” 

Ingka Centres acquired the property, then named the 6x6 Mall, from MSP Property LLP in September 2020, and announced at the time it expected to open the Ikea store in fall 2021. In July 2022, the mall’s architect, Gensler, filed plans to renovate the property for $10.6 million. 

Downtown stakeholders are hopeful that the forthcoming mall, with Ikea as its focal point, will help liven up San Francisco’s struggling Mid-Market neighborhood and turn urban and economic conditions there around. 

"We live in an era where people mix luxury and value,” Kazuko Morgan, an executive vice chairman for real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, told the SF Business Times. “People live in multimillion-dollar condos, but they’re still shopping at Ikea.”