By Mark Basch and Karen Brune Mathis, Staff Writers
\nWhile Bi-Lo Holdings LLC promised to create 100 new jobs as part of an incentive package to move its headquarters from Greenville, S.C., to Jacksonville, its CEO said Monday that he hopes to add even more than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect to create a lot more than 100. That\u2019s a minimum number,\u201d Bi-Lo President and Chief Executive Officer R. Randall Onstead Jr. said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Bi-Lo completed its $560 million acquisition of Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie on Friday, creating a company with 688 supermarkets and 63,000 employees in eight states.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, it announced that the headquarters of the merged company will be in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Mayor Alvin Brown and City and state representatives announced at a City Hall news conference that pending approvals, Bi-Lo could receive $6.6 million in incentives to move and that the company would add 100 jobs and invest $93 million in capital projects.<\/p>\n
The deal also keeps 900 local Winn-Dixie jobs at the headquarters, which creates more than 1,000 jobs with the additional positions.<\/p>\n
Brown and JAXUSA Partnership President Jerry Mallot said those headquarters jobs will pay an average $84,000 a year.<\/p>\n
Onstead said a few people will be moving from Greenville but most of the additional jobs will be new hires.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re mainly talking about new jobs created here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Onstead would not give a timetable for adding those first 100 jobs or the additional positions, but he expects the company to grow.<\/p>\n
Bi-Lo has said since the merger was first announced that Winn-Dixie supermarkets will continue to operate under that name and Bi-Lo stores would continue with their current name.<\/p>\n
Onstead said customers won\u2019t see anything in Winn-Dixie stores with the Bi-Lo name.<\/p>\n
While the corporate name is now Bi-Lo, Onstead also said that the headquarters building on Jacksonville\u2019s Westside will continue to have the Winn-Dixie name. Bi-Lo will continue to operate offices in Greenville with that name.<\/p>\n
While not putting names on them, Onstead did say that he hopes to take the \u201cbest practices\u201d from both supermarket chains and implement them in all the stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think both are doing certain things well,\u201d he said, but he would not discuss specific programs.<\/p>\n
Onstead said the incentive package was one factor in the decision to put the headquarters in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of things that went into our decision-making and some carried more weight than others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other factors included Winn-Dixie\u2019s facilities in Jacksonville, including its distribution center, and its central location for the eight-state store network, which stretches west to Louisiana and north to Tennessee and North Carolina.<\/p>\n
Winn-Dixie has been operating in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Bi-Lo\u2019s stores are in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.<\/p>\n
The $6.6 million in incentives consists of:<\/p>\n
\u2022 $1.04 million through Florida\u2019s Quick Response Training program used for training costs for new and existing employees.<\/p>\n
\u2022 $3.6 million in a state Quick Action Closing Fund to offset the costs of relocation expenses and equipment purchases.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Up to $2 million from the City through a \u201cRevenue Enhanced Value\u201d grant over 10 years. A REV grant is based on the increased taxes generated by property improvements and is repaid to a company after it pays taxes.<\/p>\n
That deal is scheduled to be introduced to the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission on March 21 and then Council. It could be approved by Council in late April or early May, said Paul Crawford, acting executive director of the JEDC.<\/p>\n
South Carolina made an effort to keep the Bi-Lo headquarters, but Onstead wouldn\u2019t provide details of that state\u2019s offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received a very compelling offer from South Carolina as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brown said at the City Hall news conference that South Carolina was \u201cvery aggressive\u201d in trying to keep the headquarters. \u201cThat is why it was critical for the City and the state to get involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n