Daily News

From Home Furnishing Business

City Pitches in for Habitat's ReStore

August 28, 2014  by in Community / Charitable Support, Industry   

Nancy Daly, chair of Habitat for Humanity of Broward’s  home improvement ReStore, said she felt a mix of joy and panic when she learned this month that the charity was about to receive its largest-ever single donation of products. 
 
The ReStore would gain gently used appliances from 184 apartments at a luxury community--if she could find a way to pick up and transport the tons of refrigerators, stoves, stackable washer-driers, air-conditioning units and water heaters before time ran out.
 
“When multifamily developer Mill Creek Residential offered to donate all the appliances, plumbing and light fixtures we could carry, from structures they planned to demolish as they make way for several new buildings within Port Royale, we had to find a way,” Daly said.  “We had five days and just two box trucks.”

Daly turned to Tamarac-Fla.-based City Furniture.
 
City Furniture President Keith Koenig and his team sent three tractor trailers to transport and store the goods. Dozens of Habitat volunteers spent three days loading the tractor trailers with the estimated $100,000 worth of appliances and fixtures.

“It was a wonderful donation from Mill Creek, and a massive effort -- one we never could have accomplished without City Furniture and our incredible volunteers,” Daly said. 
 
The relationship with City Furniture has been a mainstay for Habitat since the fundraising home improvement store opened in 2000, and the City’s ongoing donations of furniture products make it the ReStore’s largest corporate supporter.
 
“The appliances are a maximum of 7-years-old and all in very good condition, including glass-topped stoves, refrigerators, three-ton AC units, electrical panel boxes and more,” Daly said.
 
Mill Creek Residential, a leading multifamily developer, investor and operator specializing in premier apartment communities nationwide, acquired Port Royale in eastern Fort Lauderdale in December 2012. The 184 apartments are being demolished to make room for construction of five new luxury apartment towers on the grounds overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, adding 555 new apartment homes to the Port Royale community.
 
“We saw this as a way to get involved with a great cause,” said Alex Barroso, managing director of South Florida for Mill Creek Residential.  “Habitat was thrilled and said they wanted to take anything they could carry –appliances, plumbing and light fixtures, doors and anything consumers could use.”