H-E-B Mueller

The LEED Gold certified H-E-B Mueller Market is a new 83,587-square-foot retail store and fresh food market located in the Mueller neighborhood, a mixed-use urban village in Austin, TX, that has populated a 700-acre brownfield once occupied by Austin’s airport. H-E-B was one of the first major retailers to open on the redeveloped site, serving as an anchor tenant whose innovation furthered residential and other commercial development in the neighborhood.
H-E-B Mueller Market’s design fosters an inviting environment for its community, combating Austin’s humidity with an iconic entry vestibule that draws out excess thermal load and exhausts it out the top. A community room and an outdoor café with a bar establish public spaces for community interaction, while partial tree shading, shaded trellises and a reflective white-membrane roof reduce heat island effect for customer comfort.
H-E-B plans to use this new store as a model for testing new, sustainable concepts. A rain garden functions as a natural filtration system, slowing water flow into the regional water quality system. North-facing rooftop light monitors have clerestories and provide abundant natural daylight. High-efficiency air conditioning, refrigeration and lighting systems plus thermal comfort strategies, including no cold refrigerated aisles, provide a pleasant experience for market shoppers. H-E-B Mueller Market slashed its energy use by 64% over the grocery store national median while achieving a better customer environment. It stands as H-E-B’s most comprehensive environmental test store and sustainable project the company has ever designed, constructed and operated.