Up to $12 million in incentives for The Winn-Dixie Company LLC could move forward May 12 after City Council Vice President Nick Howland and Winn-Dixie said they worked out a deal to keep a store near Brentwood open through at least 2029.
Winn-Dixie had announced plans to close the store, a Harveys Supermarket at 201 W. 48th St., in coming weeks. The store is in North Shore, north of Brentwood.
The pending closure turned into a sticking point in Council committee discussions over incentives to retain Winn-Dixie’s headquarters in West Jacksonville, with some Council members refusing to approve a deal without guarantees that the North Shore store would remain open.
Howland told the Daily Record that a deal with Winn-Dixie, set for a full Council vote May 12, would keep Winn-Dixie at its 48th Street location through February 2029 when its lease is set to expire.
Eighteen months before that lease ends, Winn-Dixie would come back to the Council Finance Committee to provide an update on any efforts to stay in the area.
Council President Kevin Carrico confirmed to the Daily Record that Winn-Dixie’s incentive package, Ordinance 2026-0326, will be discharged from the Finance Committee for a May 12 vote. A discharge allows for Council to take final action on the incentives without a vote from the committee.
“I’m grateful for my Council partners in this effort … in particular Will Lahnen for keeping a sharp focus on protecting taxpayers and (district representative) Ju’Coby Pittman for fiercely advocating for the neighborhood and its residents,” Howland wrote in a text.
“If all goes according to plan, Winn-Dixie will remain part of the fabric of our city for decades to come. And Ju’Coby deserves all the credit.”
Pittman represents District 10, which includes the Brentwood-area Harveys. In addition to raising concerns that the closure would reduce grocery store access for her constituents in the North Shore area, Pittman held a May 8 meeting for Council members, community members and Winn-Dixie representatives to discuss the incentive deal.
Lahnen offered an amendment that was approved by the Finance Committee to alter the timing of the job requirements originally proposed by the city Office of Economic Development. The amendment would require Winn-Dixie to add 15 jobs by Dec. 31, 2027, and an additional 25 in 2028, 75 in 2029, 40 in 2030 and 45 in 2031.
In a statement, Winn-Dixie said it was “grateful for the passion shown by the community, the continued dialogue with members of the Finance Committee, and the spirit of mutual collaboration that has guided our efforts to craft this agreement.”
“Jacksonville is our hometown and it has always been our very strong desire to remain in this community and continue to be a part of the city’s continued growth and prosperity,” the statement said.
Concerns about the Harveys closure came after Brentwood-area residents appeared before the Finance Committee on May 5, saying that the closure of the store would create a food desert in the area.
The nearest grocery store to the North Shore Harveys is a Winn-Dixie at Gateway Town Center, about 1 mile away. The U.S. Department of Agriculture describes a food desert as an area where at least 500 people and/or at least 33% of the population lives more than 1 mile from a supermarket or large grocery store.
The Harveys location near Brentwood was one of two Harveys slated to close in Jacksonville, the Daily Record reported in March. The other location was in Arlington.
Originally, the Winn-Dixie legislation was designed to keep the Jacksonville-based grocer from moving its headquarters out of Jacksonville and to encourage the company to add 200 jobs to its headquarters workforce.
The proposal before Council would grant a $5.5 million Recapture Enhanced Value Grant and a $6.5 million Headquarters Retention Grant for Winn-Dixie to stay in its offices at 5050 Edgewood Court in West Jacksonville.
According to the legislation, the incentives would come as a 20-year, 50% REV Grant, which is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development or property enhancement. It can apply to real property and tangible personal property.
The Headquarters Retention Grant would be paid at $1.3 million annually, beginning in October 2027.
A memo from the city’s Office of Economic Development states that Winn-Dixie, in restructuring its corporate operations, is considering a $65 million capital investment and an addition of 200 jobs in its headquarters.
The new jobs would pay an average wage of at least $100,000 and would bring the company’s headquarters workforce to 700 full-time employees, the memo says.
In an interview after his presentation to the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee, city Economic Development Director Ed Randolph said the new jobs would include “various functions across the core of the headquarters operation, such as HR and any other executive capacity.”
He added that the jobs would involve central operations and would not include employees of Winn-Dixie stores.
Winn-Dixie Chief of Staff Zack Bingham told committee members May 5 that Winn-Dixie explored relocating its headquarters to other locations, and that other municipalities offered incentives for Winn-Dixie to move there.
“It is our very clear aspiration and our hope that we remain in Duval County, in the city of Jacksonville,” Bingham said. “If this incentive package does not pass, then yes, we would be forced to reconsider our options.”
Under the legislation, Winn-Dixie would be required to operate at least 13 stores under the Winn-Dixie name in Jacksonville. The company currently operates 12 grocery stores in the city.
In response to a question from the Finance Committee, Randolph said the stores are located throughout Jacksonville and include Harveys Supermarkets being converted to the Winn-Dixie brand.
The memo states that the public assistance would generate $1.04 in return for every $1 of incentives.
Outside of the issue with the 48th Street store, committee members expressed differing opinions about the incentives.
“This is extortion. If you want to go, go. Don’t beg for the money of the people of Jacksonville,” committee member Rory Diamond said.
“This is why people don’t like politicians. This is corruption. Shame on the mayor for proposing it, shame on Winn-Dixie for asking for it and shame on us if it passes.”
“I’m never inclined to incentivize companies who are already here to not move away from here,” Howland said during the committee meeting. “But this not only retains the corporate headquarters of Winn-Dixie in Jacksonville, it also brings 200 more high-paying jobs in an area of the city that is needed most, and $65 million more of capital investment.”
Winn-Dixie returned to the Edgewood Court headquarters in late 2025 after its ancestral company operated there from the early 1950s until 2016, when as Southeastern Grocers it moved to the Baymeadows area. On April 7, the city issued permits to put up signs on the Westside building.
During the company’s years at the Baymeadows headquarters, it leased space at Edgewood Court for IT functions.
Winn-Dixie has evolved over the years through name, ownership and location changes. Since construction began in 1952, the headquarters campus in West Jacksonville has been bought and sold several times. The company is now owned by an investor group with plans to focus on Florida and South Georgia markets.
Previously named Southeastern Grocers, the company completed a deal in March 2024 to sell its primary banners Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket to German grocer Aldi. Aldi bought about 400 stores from Southeastern Grocers to convert to its discount concept.
In February 2025, a consortium of private investors led by Southeastern Grocers Inc. CEO Anthony Hucker and supplier C&S Wholesale Grocers acquired SEG and 170 remaining Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores to continue the banners.
Winn-Dixie is converting Harveys to its banner.
The new owners registered The Winn-Dixie Company LLC with the state Division of Corporations on Feb. 5, 2026.