SANTA PAULA, CA - Calavo Growers has officially signed a lease for a 208,000 square foot former Food Lion distribution in Green Cove Springs, Florida, outside of Jacksonville.

According to a source close to property owner, True North Investments, Calavo will take up the section of the building that offers refrigeration equipment, with the expectation that it will be used in various food processing capacities. The new facility has a large refrigerated storage space with railroad tracks that run through the building. 

True North Acting Chairman, Carl Manofsky, told news source Clay Today he couldn’t comment on the lease until after the tenant goes public, but Clay Today also reports that negotiations had been for a 16-year lease with three 5-year options included a commitment to create 262 jobs within the first five years of tenancy. 

Bill Garrison, President of the Clay County Economic Development Corp, said, “This is a publicly traded company that does $783 million dollars of business, annually. They are a major company and having them come to Clay County changes our perception in the world of big business. They’re expanding nationwide and they’re doing it from right here in Clay County.”

According to Clay Today, Florida state’s seven percent tax on this kind of building lease would cost Calavo $100,000 per year, but during lease negotiations, the company asked the County Commission to offset the expense. Commissioners for the county then applied a tax incentive that will offset their property tax by $10,000 each year.

Calavo Growers