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Homemakers Furniture Inc. in Urbandale has reached the final phase of its two-year expansion project, and President Dave Merschman said everything is going according to schedule.

The final phase, which includes the construction of the main entrance as well as a portion of the showroom floor adjacent to the main entryway, is expected to be complete in approximately six months. “The last phase is completely closed in now, and they are working on the inside,” Merschman said. “We should have everything completed sometime this summer.”

Once complete, the four-phase project will have cost more than $30 million, which Merschman said is right on budget, and will have added thousands of square feet to the building.

Homemakers, which formerly contained 297,000 square feet, will now have a total of 408,000 square feet, including showroom space, offices and the warehouse portion; 215,000 square feet will be solely dedicated to the showroom floor and the remainder will be warehouse and offices, Merschman said.

“From the time that we started, we will have added 45,000 square feet to the showroom and 65,000 square feet to the warehouse,” he said.

Additionally, the remodeling process raised the ceilings of the showroom by nearly five feet and replaced all of the floors.

“All of the current showroom floor was remodeled,” Merschman said, noting that it was installed during the multiple construction phases. “So at this time, the part the customer sees is all brand-new, completely remodeled. All of the old showroom is gone; it’s quite a change.”

The new entrance to the furniture store, which is the focal point of the final phase, will rise much higher than before, with exterior walls 50 feet tall and the interior ceiling more than 30 feet above the floor. Merschman said the old entryway stood approximately 13 feet tall.

Merschman said the multimillion-dollar expansion has not taken any unexpected turns in light of the poor economy, and has put Homemakers in a better position for the economic turnaround.

“We feel that by the time our project is complete, when the economy turns around – and it’s anyone’s guess when the economy will turn around – we will have a brand-new, efficient facility ready to take on new business. So in that respect, it will probably turn out to work in our favor. And it’s not just the building; we expanded parking spaces as well as expanded the new pickup area.”

Merschman hopes to host a formal grand opening this summer.