{"id":64118,"date":"2026-03-25T18:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64118"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:22:16","slug":"the-city-of-groveland-has-officially-received-a-1-46-million-refund-from-the-kroger-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/25\/the-city-of-groveland-has-officially-received-a-1-46-million-refund-from-the-kroger-co\/","title":{"rendered":"The city of Groveland has officially received a $1.46 million refund from The Kroger Co."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The city of Groveland has officially received a $1.46 million<\/strong> refund from The Kroger Co.<\/strong> following the company\u2019s decision to shut down its grocery fulfillment center and exit the Florida delivery market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The refund is a result of a breach of contract regarding the economic incentives Kroger received to build its 350,000-square-foot facility at Ford Commerce Park, which opened in June 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was the refund issued?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Under the original agreement, Kroger committed to maintaining at least 60 jobs<\/strong> with a specific average annual payroll for 15 years<\/strong>.<\/sup> However, in November 2025, Kroger announced it would close the facility by February 1, 2026, and lay off over 900 employees.<\/sup> Because the company failed to meet the long-term job requirements, the city moved to claw back 100% of the incentives provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakdown of the $1.46 Million<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The total amount returned to the city is precisely $1,460,233.49<\/strong>, which consists of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Building Permit Fees:<\/strong> $755,737.76 (previously waived)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Impact Fees:<\/strong> $390,603.36 (previously waived)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Ad Valorem Tax Rebates:<\/strong> $209,892.37 (refunded for 2022\u20132024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Job Growth Incentives:<\/strong> $104,000.00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    How will the funds be used?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    As of March 2026, Groveland city leaders are evaluating the best way to utilize the windfall.<\/sup> While the city initially set the funds aside, recent council discussions have focused on two primary paths:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Infrastructure Upgrades:<\/strong> Accelerating planned city projects, such as road repairs and utility improvements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Debt Reduction:<\/strong> Paying down existing municipal debt to improve the city’s long-term financial health.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Community Improvements:<\/strong> Investing in parks or public safety enhancements that were previously on the back burner.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Broader Impact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Beyond the refund to the city, Kroger also reached a termination agreement with Lake County<\/strong>, returning over $460,000<\/strong> in county-level incentives.<\/sup> The closure has significantly impacted the local workforce, leading to job fairs and the reallocation of some incentive funds toward retraining programs for the approximately 1,400 affected employees across Florida<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The city of Groveland has officially received a $1.46 million refund from The Kroger Co. following the company\u2019s decision to shut down its grocery fulfillment center and exit the Florida… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyMVwvMTFcLzEwNjk2ODgzOS0xNjM1Nzk1MTU1MzY2LUtyb2dlcl9kZWxpdmVyeV92YW4uanBnP2ZpdD05MjklMkM1MjMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJUaGUgY2l0eSBvZiBHcm92ZWxhbmQgaGFzIG9mZmljaWFsbHkgcmVjZWl2ZWQgYSAkMS40NiBtaWxsaW9uIHJlZnVuZCBmcm9tIFRoZSBLcm9nZXIgQ28uIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.VzfxXhgyq3rZmmzis9Dydr5WRJS3PS5mPLfLiHPNnUIMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[14191],"class_list":["post-64118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-the-city-of-groveland-has-officially-received-a-1-46-million-refund-from-the-kroger-co"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64119,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64118\/revisions\/64119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}