Investment unlocks a $400 million project that will create 430 permanent quality jobs and 350 construction jobs in a deeply distressed non-metro community
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 23, 2026) – Heartland Renaissance Fund (HRF), an affiliate of ACC Capital, is pleased to announce the deployment of $12.5 million of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to support the construction of a 950,000 square-foot distribution center for Kroger grocery stores in non-metro Franklin, Kentucky.
Heartland Renaissance Fund partnered with Empowerment Reinvestment Fund (ERF) of New York, which provided an additional $10 million in financing, bringing the total NMTC investment to $22.5 million for the $400 million distribution center.
Heartland’s investment is expected to bring 430 permanent new jobs and 350 temporary construction jobs, most of which will be available to low-income workers. Every permanent position is a quality job, paying above the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Living Wage level for the area, and offering substantial benefits. The investment is located within a deeply distressed census tract that suffers from an unemployment rate 2.87 times the national average.
“This is our first New Markets investment in Kentucky, and we’re proud to have had a part in it,” says Leslie Lane, Heartland Renaissance Fund’s president. “We’ve been looking for the right project, and this sort of project is exactly what the allocation is for. We’d like to do more in the commonwealth and hopefully ACC Capital can utilize our other financing tools like SBA 7a lending and EB5 within the commonwealth.”
Kroger is the largest traditional grocer in the United States with over 2,700 stores in 35 states. The new distribution center will support more than 100 of Kroger’s retail grocery store locations. The NMTC Program, administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, encourages private investment in low-income communities by providing investors a federal tax credit in exchange for equity investments in community development entities.
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About Heartland Renaissance Fund
Founded in 2003, Heartland Renaissance Fund is an affiliate of ACC capital and is a certified Community Development Entity focused on revitalizing underserved communities across the American heartland. The organization has deployed over $425 million in NMTC and other community development financing, supporting projects that have created more than 5,000 jobs and leveraged $1 billion in total community investment. Heartland Renaissance Fund specializes in manufacturing and small business development in rural and small metropolitan areas across Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
About Empowerment Reinvestment Fund, LLC.
Empowerment Reinvestment Fund, LLC. (ERF), a subsidiary of TruFund Financial Services, is a certified Community Development Entity that leverages the New Markets Tax Credit Program to provide flexible financing for projects that create jobs, expand access to essential services and strengthen low-income communities throughout the United States.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit™. We are, across our family of companies more than 400,000 associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through an eCommerce experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.
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