Home Depot Betting on 110,00-SF, High-End Interior Design Store

ORLANDO-Betting heavily on a growing affluent Orlando market, Home Depot Inc. today opened a 110,000-sf, estimated $22 million Expo Design Center, its 35th and one of the largest in the company’s 10-year-old design division.

The center anchors the 600,000-sf Orlando Millennia Plaza, across the street from the half-completed Mall at Millenia, a 1.3 million-sf, $250 million shopping emporium being jointly developed by Taubman Centers Inc. and Forbes Co. of Bloomfield Hills, MI. Expected opening is fall 2002.

Local Home Depot officials couldn’t be reached at GlobeSt.com’s publication deadline but area retail industry consultants say the retailer is betting Expo Design Center will be drawing heavily from Mall at Millenia customers. The mall’s anchors are Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus.