New dealership to be 1st with top LEED rating
November 18, 2009
Article By Michael Laval with www.westorangetimes.com
Just across the Lake County line on State Road 50, the Southeast’s first LEED Platinum-rated auto dealership is being built from the ground up.
Headquarter Honda, billed as a state-of-the-art, green sales and service facility, is scheduled to open in March. In its pursuit of achieving the top-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, Headquarter Honda’s construction budget will exceed most dealerships, totaling about $15 million, as builders employ a number of design features not common among most auto sales lots.
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“We’re building a store with as little environmental impact as possible,” said General Manager Jeronimo Esteve IV. “We want to set the example for what can be done.”
Headquarter Honda’s 48,000-square-foot main building will be topped off by a living roof planted with heat-absorbing foliage and a water filtration system developed by the University of Central Florida. Rainwater collected by cisterns will be used for restrooms, air-conditioning units, irrigation and car washes.
Solar panels are expected to provide half of the dealership’s energy needs. To further reduce power consumption, builders are using energy-saving insulation, porous bricks and heat-reducing tiles, bamboo flooring, drought-tolerant landscaping and an exterior green-screen wall planted with jasmine.
Headquarter Honda will also feature emission-capture equipment for cars being serviced in repair bays and energy-saving, “intelligent” lighting that includes skylights with automatic sensors and a computer that controls interior and exterior lighting to reduce night-light glare by 50 percent.
Tony Jimenez of J.A. Jimenez and Associates, architect for Headquarter Honda, said air quality has been closely monitored since the first day of construction through unique filters that absorb dust and continually clean the air. Once completed, no one will enter the building during a 12-day air-cleansing period.
“Our goal is to create a clean and healthy environment in which employees can work well and the community will be excited to visit,” Jimenez said. “We are going above and beyond to ensure maximum energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor environmental quality, green-materials selection and sustainable site development.”
The extra expense of implementing energy-saving measures, according to Jimenez, should pay for itself within five years.
Esteve, who recently moved to Windermere with his family, has a long history in the auto sales industry. Headquarter Honda is owned by Bella Automotive Group, a family company that has been in the business for four generations.
Its South Florida Headquarter Toyota, he said, is ranked among the top 15 dealerships in the nation. Esteve’s father, Jeronimo Esteve III, is the company’s president and CEO, while his grandfather is the Honda distributor for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This will be Esteve’s first experience operating a dealership on his own and away from home, and he is eager to settle down and contribute to the West Orange and South Lake communities.
“My family is very excited about moving here,” he said. “We’re particularly proud that Honda has chosen us to represent them in such a dynamically growing area. We look forward to contributing to the local economy and becoming very involved in the community as a whole.”
Headquarter Honda will hold a job fair in January to fill about 45 positions. Employees at all levels, Esteve said, will undergo a training program through Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Resorts designed to instill the highest level of customer service. Job fair details are available by calling 305-364-9800, Ext. 8851.
“We really believe in what we’re doing and in our product,” Esteve said. “We believe in the West Orange and Clermont communities, and we plan to be here for a long time.”
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