Kroger Co. has agreed to reimburse Lake County more than $460,000 after it decided to close a Groveland plant the county had supported with a hefty incentive package.

Under the termination agreement the company signed, Kroger must reimburse $460,714.53 to the county by Dec. 31, an amount representing incentive and impact fee rebates received by Kroger from 2022 to 2024. Kroger will also forgo its 2025 incentive and rebate payments, expected to total about $400,000.

The county hopes to get nearly $900,000 more from a British online grocery company that worked with Kroger to build the Groveland facility and was also provided county incentives, but no deal has been reached with that firm yet.

Kroger announced on Nov. 18 that it would be closing its Groveland eCommerce fulfillment center by Feb. 1,  leading to the loss of about 1,400 Florida jobs as the company modifies its grocery delivery approach.

The closing will impact about 935 employees at the Groveland facility and nearly 500 others, many of them delivery drivers, stationed in Jacksonville, Rockledge and Tampa, according to notices the company filed with the Florida Department of Commerce.

Some of the 2025 money that was earmarked for Kroger now will be used to pay tuition and other costs for local, soon-to-be-out-of-work, Kroger employees who want to attend Lake Sumter State College, Lake Tech College or other job training programs, officials said.

At the time of its move into Lake, Kroger was expected to receive a $1.1 million  incentive package. Lake County commissioners also approved a property tax rebate with an anticipated value of about $2 million over 10 years if all stated requirements were met. The rebate came from an estimated $4 million in property tax revenue the fulfillment center was projected to generate in 10 years of operation.

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners approved a termination agreement last week to end the county’s deal with Kroger and recoup funds already paid to the grocer.

Meg Brew, the county’s economic development director, said Lake has given Kroger incentive payments totaling $313,000 and paid $871,000 to the British company Ocado since the deal began in 2022. Kroger has also received an additional $147,000 in waived impact fees, according to Brew.

While Kroger has agreed to terms ending its deal, Lake County officials said Ocado is still reviewing its termination agreement.

At least 10 percent of the recovered tax incentive funds will go toward improving county road infrastructure, the agreement says.

Some of incentive funds the county planned to spend on Kroger in 2025 will be reallocated to a county partnership with CareerSource Central Florida to provide a “soft landing strategy” for impacted employees, Brew said during last week’s county commission meeting.

Those funds will also be reallocated to CareerSource in support of “training and upskilling” displaced workers who can attend job programs at local colleges.

“This proposal ensures that funds that were originally intended to support economic development continue to serve that mission by investing directly in our residents and strengthening Lake County’s workforce,” Brew said.

CareerSource is hosting a job fair at the Groveland facility on Wednesday to for Kroger employees.

Contact me at twilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980.