New BrandsMart store may get ‘green’ certification

BrandsMart U.S.A. says it’s well on its way towards achieving a big environmentally friendly designation for its new store near the Mall of Georgia in what would be a first for a metro-Atlanta big-box store.

The Florida-based retailer hopes to cut energy use by nearly half over a typical store, will collect rainwater from its 2-acre roof to water plants and flush toilets and even plans to install “solar” panels powered by fluorescent lighting to power auto-on faucets in its restrooms.

The retailer’s contractor, The Conlan Co., is even recycling 94 percent of the refuse from the building process, and crushed onsite rocks left over from highway construction to serve as the bed for future roadways.

Not all of the ideas are original, said BrandsMart’s vice president of development, Larry Levine. Wal-Mart has employed some of the tactics itself.

But designing a big-box store to such wide-ranging standards is new for the chain, and for metro Atlanta.

The company expects to qualify for certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The council, a private, nonprofit group made up of building industry and environmental advocates, says the decision to build green is still relatively rare in the retail sector.

Levine said the company wants to do the right thing environmentally, but has discarded some proposals that wouldn’t provide a reasonable payback.

“It has to make economic sense,” he said. “It can’t be done just for the sake of doing it.”

Levin expects the store expects to open this summer.