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City Leader Wants Ikea Assembled Differently

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2008

Updated: 01/15/2008 12:14 am

TAMPA - City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena is threatening to "embarrass" Ikea if the furniture store doesn't come up with a better, more environmentally friendly design for its proposed Tampa location.

She said she is so frustrated she would make a video of the project and post it on YouTube. She made the threat in a Dec. 20 letter to the company's president. On Monday, she said she doesn't plan to back down.

"Please save yourself and the City of Tampa the shame of mediocrity and redesign your Tampa store to be sustainable," Saul-Sena wrote.

While Saul-Sena is pushing to make the company change its site plan, her opinion isn't shared by other city leaders. On Wednesday, a top city administrator sent Ikea a separate letter designed to reassure the company that the mayor and city administration support the project.

In June and again in July, the city council approved plans to rezone the property at Adamo Drive and North 22nd Street for the Ikea project. Both times, the council voted 6-1 to support the plan, with Saul-Sena opposing. At the public hearings, she criticized the project for not being environmentally friendly. Saul-Sena is a longtime advocate of green, sustainable design.

The store, known for its sleek furniture and inexpensive prices, is scheduled to open in summer 2009. It will be Florida's third Ikea, joining newly opened stores in Sunrise and Orlando.

The announcement in March that Ikea was planning a Tampa site came with much fanfare, and Mayor Pam Iorio talked glowingly about the project and its economic benefits at a news conference.

In July, however, Saul-Sena fired off her first letter to Ikea's president. She asked the company to reconsider its design.

The company responded with a three-page letter explaining Ikea's commitment to the environment. The site plan preserves 96 trees on the site. Construction of the building will include steel and concrete made from recycled material. The roof is designed to include solar panels.

Still unsatisfied, Saul-Sena followed up with her YouTube threat. She said the site plan is a "cookie-cutter template." The structure, she wrote, is a "big box."

"If you were Wal-Mart, which does not aspire beyond mediocrity, then I would not be expecting a decent design," she wrote. "But you have a painful disconnect between your stated mission and your built presence in Tampa."

In the city's response, Mark Huey, the city's economic development administrator, wrote Ikea's project has "strong and enthusiastic support" from the city, including from the mayor.

"The site plan is totally acceptable to the city and we have no expectation whatsoever that your company should make changes," Huey wrote.
Ikea has no plans to change its design, spokesman Joseph Roth said Monday.

"We are ... proud of our record of being environmentally responsible," Roth said. He ticked off features such as energy-efficient lighting and tree preservation.

He said the company hasn't received similar threats before.

Huey said he felt compelled to write his own letter to Ikea after hearing from company representatives.

"They were concerned about the letter and the sentiments expressed on the council letterhead," Huey said.

He didn't want the company to think the administration shared Saul-Sena's opinions.

Saul-Sena on Monday said she made it clear in her letter she wasn't writing on behalf of the council but was speaking for herself.

"I didn't say 'we,' I said 'I,'" Saul-Sena said.

She said she has purchased several things at Ikea, including dorm furniture for her daughter.

"I love what they do, but what they want to build in Tampa is not good, sustainable design," she said. "I know they can do better."

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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