$25M Sarasota-UTC area furniture store to go big and green

A furniture store with more square footage than two football fields is moving into University Town Center, the bustling shopping and entertainment district just outside Lakewood Ranch. 

City Furniture plans to open a more than 120,000-square-foot showroom next to Tesla in UTC's East District by summer 2025. The East District at UTC is being developed between the Mall at UTC and Interstate 75. East Manatee County-nased Benderson Development is the developer behind the mall, while Fort Lauderdale-based Miller Construction Co. has the $25 million contract to build the store, which will feature two escalators, a two-story tilt wall and electric vehicle charging stations.