Winn-Dixie became a Fortune 500 company in Jacksonville and even though consolidations and downsizing have knocked it from that lofty perch, Winn-Dixie wants to keep Jacksonville as its headquarters by seeking taxpayer incentives considered crucial for its financial success.
The city’s Office of Economic Development will bring the proposal for $12 million in incentives to the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee on April 13. The multi-year incentive package then will go to City Council.
Office of Economic Development Director Ed Randolph wrote in a memo the incentives would “ensure the continuation of operations of a company that supported Jacksonville for generations.”
He said the incentives “are vital to the financial success of the company” and other Florida locations might provide lower costs for the headquarters.
“They want Jacksonville to have the opportunity to compete for the future of the business due to the deep roots the city and company have nurtured over many years,” Randolph wrote.
The city incentives would be a $6.5 million headquarters retention grant paid out over five years and city property tax rebates worth up to $5.5 million over 20 years.
Randolph said the incentives would increase investment in an economically distressed area of northwest Jacksonville where the city wants to boost jobs.
Winn-Dixie would keep 500 existing jobs at its Edgewood Court headquarters and add another 200 new jobs by the end of 2031, according to terms of the proposed incentive agreement. The retained and new jobs would have an average salary of at least $100,000.
Winn-Dixie also would make at least $65 million in capital investments by Dec. 31, 2031. The breakdown on the investment would be $48 million in store renovations and $17 million at the headquarters.
The Edgewood Court location is where Winn-Dixie had its corporate headquarters before Southeastern Grocers bought the supermarket chain. Southeastern Grocers later sold its Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores to Aldi in 2024.
A group of investors then bought Southeastern Grocers from Aldi and gained control of about 170 stores that Aldi didn’t convert to its brand.
Southeastern Grocers renamed itself Winn-Dixie in February. But the latest version of Winn-Dixie is smaller than its Fortune 500 heyday when it had stores across the Southeast. Winn-Dixie operates now in Florida and southern Georgia. Randolph’s memo says Winn-Dixie’s corporate strategy will focus on stores in Florida.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Winn-Dixie seeks Jacksonville incentives ‘vital’ for its success
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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