City Furniture secures construction loan for $100 million Plant City development
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 17, 2021

City Furniture's new mixed-use development in Plant City is underway — and the South Florida retailer has secured a $78.3 million construction loan to fund the project.

Site work on City Furniture's new facility, which includes a warehouse, office space and showroom, began in April, Ryan Cronin, senior vice president of real estate and finance, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Wells Fargo provided the construction loan, which closed on Aug. 12, according to Hillsborough County property records.

Total development costs are $100 million.

City Furniture acquired 111 acres south of Interstate 4 at the intersection of South Frontage Road and Son Keen Road in Plant City in late 2020. Here's a breakdown of its development plans:

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 Vertical construction should begin in the coming weeks, Cronin said. The facility is expected to employ 500 people when it wraps up construction in 2022. ARCO Construction Co.is the general contractor on the project.

The warehouse will serve forthcoming showrooms in the Tampa Bay area in addition to fulfilling customer orders.

"The real competition that we all recognize is Amazon and Wayfair," CEO Keith Koening previously told the Business Journal, "and we’re all reinventing our business to the reality of a new digital world."