As Hurricane Milton made its way toward the Tampa area, City Furniture worked with the State of Florida to create an emergency shelter in its Plant City DC. Photo courtesy of City Furniture.
TAMARAC, Fla. — Two days prior to Hurricane Milton making landfall in Florida, City Furniture CEO Andrew Koenig got a call from the State of Florida’s division of emergency management.
Officials were interested in using the Tamarac, Fla.-based Top 100 retailer’s distribution center in Plant City to serve as an emergency shelter for evacuees in the Tampa, Fla., area. Of course, Koenig was interested in lending a hand as the Category-5 storm was bearing down on the state, so the parties made a deal on Oct. 7, a couple of days before Milton made landfall.
“I was thankful that they called. I knew our building is very large and Cat-5 ready, and could house evacuees,” Koenig told Furniture Today. “They were thinking what I was thinking, and so we signed a contract, and they were in our building at 11:00 starting preparations.”
Koenig said the emergency officials were well-organized and worked quickly to turn a portion of the DC into a place where people and pets could safely wait out the storm.
“I was impressed with the state. They came in with cots, generators, AC units, food, water, porta-potties, everything,” Koenig said. “Our facilities team made it comfortable for about 380 people.”
He said with 1.3 million square feet available in the facility, there was space to be had for an emergency. Koenig said the state did its homework and scouted City prior to making the call, which helped with the quick turnaround.
“There’s lot of warehouse capacity to house a lot of folks,” Koenig said. “It wasn’t hard to find space because we shut the building down for the hurricane. A lot of our associates who were nervous about the storm used it with their families, too.”
While the storm was impactful, it didn’t hit as hard as experts feared, and the evacuees were able to leave as soon as a day or two after landfall. By the time the following week rolled around, the shelter status was lifted.
In the aftermath of Milton, Koenig said City is helping collect emergency supplies to help meet immediate needs. It also partnered with Synchrony Bank to institute a hurricane relief program that will offer three months’ payment assistance on purchases made with 60-month financing.
“It’s a small but important way of taking some of the burdens,” Koenig said of the program to help residents refurnish their spaces.
And the next time a hurricane hits the region, Koenig said City is prepared to open its doors again, should the call come.
“Our warehouses are built really well, and we have the space. I think we learned a lot that we can shelter folks with cooperation with the government,” he said. “We can turn the open space into a safe place for a lot of people. We’re prepared to help out in the future, if necessary.”
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