LEED-Rated Furniture Store Opens

Home furnishings company City Furniture has opened a LEED-rated superstore in Florida.

The nearly 94,000 square foot City and Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Boca Raton meets LEED standards on energy efficiency, FurnitureToday reports.

The $11 million complex features rooftop solar tubes and LED lighting inside and out, the South Florida Business Journal said.

The store has dual-flush toilets, low-flow urinals and a landscape irrigation system, and is expected to use 42 percent less water for interior use and 78 percent less outside than a traditional store. Walls are panelled with reclaimed wood.

“We’ll look to achieve LEED certification in every location where that’s doable,” said City president Keith Koenig.

City has closed three smaller stores in Florida, but expects that the new superstore will generate more sales than those three combined, FurnitureToday said.

Koenig said if demand improves in 2011, the company will construct a new 56,000-square-foot City Furniture store in Cutler Bay to silver LEED standards.