Grocer Kroger plans $40M facility and 140 new jobs

Cleveland facility to help fill prescriptions for pharmacies

Supermarket giant Kroger plans to invest about $40 million into a Cleveland, Tennessee, site to serve as a central fill facility for its pharmacies in the Southeast, officials said Monday.

The company is slated to hire about 140 people for the 50,000-square-foot location it will lease on Stuart Road, said Doug Berry, the Cleveland-Bradley County Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for economic development.

The facility will help handle prescriptions, which are filled on an ongoing basis, he said about the project that continues a string of new business investments in the Southeast Tennessee county during the past year or so.

Operations at Kroger are to begin early next year, with hiring taking place between now and then, Berry said in a phone interview.

“It’s an efficiency move,” he said. “They’ll be installing processing equipment this fall.”

Salaries are expected to start at about $40,000 a year, with some highly skilled posts paying $100,000 annually, Berry said.

The site will be Kroger’s newest central fill facility and its fifth nationwide since 2000, according to a release from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office and the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

“Kroger is a national brand that shares our state’s strong family values,” Lee said in a statement about the Cincinnati-based grocer.

Cleveland and Bradley County are geographically positioned to enhance Kroger’s distribution network, state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter said in a statement.

Berry said Kroger already has a strong presence in the county with its Peyton’s distribution facilities, Berry said. Peyton’s operates more than 1.2 million square feet there.

Cleveland and Bradley County both have endorsed a six-year payment in lieu of tax agreement with Kroger concerning the new central fill facility, Berry said. Also, the state is providing incentives, he said.

“We’re excited to have them come in,” Berry said.

Tennessee offers a combination of business assistance and a skilled labor market, Kroger Economic Development Director Lisa Daugherty said in a statement.

“We appreciate the site selection guidance and collaboration,” she said.

Bradley has had a solid 12 months or so when it comes to the recruitment of new business, Berry said. The county has attracted 11 projects totalling $795 million of investment in the period, he said.

Also, the number of new jobs could reach more than 2,500 between now and 2030, he said.

“I’ve never had a more productive 12 months,” said the economic development official.

Last month, an Australian manufacturer of metals and alloys announced an expansion into the United States with plans for a $54.9 million manufacturing-andresearch facility to produce titanium alloys in Cleveland.

Amaero International Limited plans to locate its flagship titanium powder manufacturing plant in the Spring Branch Industrial Park off Interstate 75.

In January, custom food manufacturer SK Food Group announced it’s building a plant at the industrial park and will create the largest single number of jobs for a new company in the Chattanooga area since Volkswagen’s auto assembly factory more than decade ago, officials said then.

The company revealed plans for 840 jobs as it invests $205 million in a new 525,000-square-foot factory.

The company revealed plans for 840 jobs as it invests $205 million in a new 525,000-squarefoot factory.