South Florida's City Furniture is planning a massive mixed-use development in Plant City
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 11, 2020

A South Florida furniture retailer is planning a massive, mixed-use development in Plant City — one that will add more than 1 million square feet of commercial space and up to 500 new jobs.

City Furniture, which is on track to break its sales record this year, has paid $7.5 million for 111 acres of vacant land south of Interstate 4 at the intersection of South Frontage Road and Son Keen Road. Of that acreage, more than 27 acres are wetlands and won't be affected, according to documents filed with Plant City.

A representative from City Furniture was not immediately available for comment Friday.

Here's what City Furniture is planning on the property, according to plans filed with Plant City's development review committee:

800,000 square feet of distribution space

208,521 square feet of retail space for a showroom

45,429 square feet of corporate office space

5,000 square feet of cafe space

The development will employ 500 people, according to City Furniture's plans. It's not known when construction might start, or whether the company has selected a general contractor for the project.

"On behalf of our city commission, I'd like to thank City Furniture for their continued interest in Plant City," Mayor Rick Lott said in a statement. "We look forward to supporting the project every step of the way."

The novel coronavirus pandemic has been a boon to Tamarac-based City Furniture, according to the South Florida Business Journal, a sister news organization. With stay-at-home orders in place, consumers were looking to upgrade their living environments, resulting in a major sales uptick.

But City Furniture's expansion to the Tampa Bay area has been in the works for years. The retailer has been scouting the area for a distribution center for at least three years, according to industrial real estate brokers, though its focus was initially on Tampa.

A development of this scale is a massive win for Plant City, which has seen some major economic development wins this year. Nestle Waters signed a large warehouse deal there in November; earlier this year, Ace Hardware signed a deal to move its distribution center to Plant City from East Tampa.