Lakeland, Florida, USA: Farm Cut, part of South Florida Produce, is leasing from Provender Partners, a 42,000square-foot, rail-served refrigerated warehouse in Lakeland, Florida.
Provender acquired the vacant site (pictured above after refurbishment) at 5300 Great Oak Drive in late October, which marked the firm’s entry into the Florida market. The lease signing comes only months after the warehouse was renovated.
The temperature-controlled building is on a 4.14 acre lot, and has 30-foot clear heights, 12 dock-high doors and 6,000 square feet of office space.
“Central Florida is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, but the food supply chain has not kept up with the state’s in-migration,” said Neil Johnson, chief executive, Provender.
“Food service companies, grocers, farmers and logistics companies are finding it difficult to find high quality, strategically located facilities to get their fresh products to market. The Lakeland facility is the first step in our plan to build scale in Florida, as we have in the rest of the country through future development and acquisition.”
Food Cut’s new warehouse is on Florida’s 132-mile I-4 Corridor, one of the prime distribution hubs in the state serving nearly five million people within a 50 radius. The I-4 Corridor also is served by two international airports (Tampa and Orlando) and the deep-water port of Tampa Bay providing domestic and global reach.
