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By Casey Ross Globe Staff
After more than a decade of planning, the furniture giant Ikea has decided not to build a second Massachusetts store at Assembly Square in Somerville, punching a hole in the city’s effort to redevelop a huge swath of former industrial property near its border with Boston.
“Given the nearly 15 years of time and millions of dollars invested in advancing the project to this point . . . it is unfortunate that now we will not be able to participate in making it come to fruition,” wrote Doug Greenholz, US real estate manager for Ikea.
The announcement did not surprise Somerville officials. Many had questioned whether Ikea would move forward with the store after repeated delays in recent years. The Swedish retailer first became involved in redeveloping the 66 acres at Assembly Square, named for a former Ford Motor Co. plant., in the late 1990s. Its permit to construct a 340,000-square-foot store was due to expire in mid-August.