Last Winter Garden citrus plant closes

The packing house was eerily quiet Wednesday, March 8, without the sounds of the machines whirring and the oranges and grapefruit tumbling down the conveyor belts to be sorted, boxed and bagged and shipped around the world.

After 84 years of citrus production at its packing house in Winter Garden, Heller Bros. Packing Corp. has ceased operation. The office building at 306 Ninth St. remains opens and will continue to function as the family office. The company still maintains more than 4,000 acres in its five Florida groves.

At its peak, the 50,000-square-foot Heller packing house employed 125, with another 50 people growing the citrus and 250 people harvesting the fruit. And while it held out through three major freezes in the 1980s — which wiped out many of its competitors and nearly put an end to Central Florida’s citrus industry — and kept going through canker and hurricanes, Heller lost its footing when greening gave grove owners a run for their money.

The decline in production is staggering. In the 2001-02 season, Heller packed more than 47 million boxes of grapefruit. Today, that number has dropped to about 2 million. Oranges peaked at more than 240 million boxes in 2004, dropped to 82 million in 2016 and now is down to 16 million.

Greening — a bacterial disease that causes unmarketable, bitter fruit — arrived in 2004, Harvey Heller said, and played a significant role in the decrease in citrus production.

“We concentrated our efforts in what we had left,” he said. “And I think that’s why we were able to go on as long as we have. The hurricane in 2017, Irma, seemed to mark a turning point in terms of accelerating the decline of production across the state.

“We’re out of runway,” Harvey Heller said. “That doesn’t mean we stop trying to grow trees that are resistant to these … but it takes four to five years for a tree to grow fruit of an acceptable quality. So, you need more than good ideas.

“It’s become impossible to keep this facility running at 10% of capacity,” he said. “You hope that some cure will present itself. Not to say that it won’t, but it’s fair to say that it hasn’t.”

Heller Bros. continues to operate its vegetable business in north and south Florida, Tennessee and Mexico.

“We keep hoping and looking for citrus that we can grow that can survive and be commercially viable,” Harvey Heller said. “One of the things we tried that was successful from a growing standpoint was lemons. But Florida lemons weren’t suitable for fresh production.”

Harvey Heller is matter-of-fact about the situation — but he isn’t defeated.

“Is it over for the time being? It is,” he said. “But we’re growing, we’re looking, we’re trying, and as soon as … somebody can say … here’s a methodology that works. … As long as we have the energy of youth and the resources, which we try to do, we’re going to keep trying. … We’ve been in this business since 1938, so we have a very strong desire to be able to find a way to continue to go forward.

“Let’s call this an intermission,” he said.

TIMELINE

1911: Brothers Isadore and Murray Heller, wholesale produce merchants, founded Heller Bros. Co. at the Washington Market in New York City.

1934: Murray Heller moved to Orlando and set out to acquire citrus fruit for distribution by Heller Bros. This same year, Isadore’s son, Seymour Heller, moved to Miami to focus on the production and packing of fresh tomatoes.

1936: Isidore’s other son, James Heller, joined his uncle, Murray Heller, in Orlando.

1939: The growth of the citrus operation led to the formation of Heller Bros. Packing Corp., under the leadership of James Heller. Within this year, the company leased then purchased a packing house in Winter Garden from Seaboard Coastline Railroad. The packing house remained in the same location for 84 years but has undergone many remodels and upgrades.

1940: The company began acquiring citrus groves in south Florida to help meet the demands of the packing operation and the growth of distribution business in New York. Over the years, production grew to about one million boxes of oranges, grapefruit and tangerines.

1945: Heller Bros. Packing Corp. became a member of the Winter Garden Citrus Products Cooperative, a leader in the development of frozen orange juice concentrate, a product that dominated the marketplace for decades. Heller Bros. supplied close to 20% of the fruit utilized by the co-op.

1956: James Heller moved back to New York to help with the family’s investment activities. He also continued to manage the citrus operations over the next several decades through regular trips to and from New York to Florida.

1964: Harvey Heller, Seymour’s son and Isidore’s grandson, joined the company. He served as general manager and executive vice president before eventually succeeding his uncle, Murray Heller, at the helm of the organization.

1989: Harry Heller Falk joined the company, advanced through the ranks over the next several years and served as operations head of the business and co-CEO. He and cousin Harvey Heller provide joint leadership and direction in the Winter Garden location.

2002: The wood flooring in the southwest mezzanine in the packing house was replaced with concrete flooring. The company also purchased the 450-acre Star Grove in St. Lucie County, which produces red grapefruit and navel oranges.

2009: The company purchased the 1,000-acre Kirchman Grove in St. Lucie County. It produces honeybells, navel oranges and Valencia oranges.

2010: Alexander Heller, Harvey’s son and the fourth generation of the Heller family, joined the company.

2012: The wood flooring in the processing area of the packing house was replaced with concrete flooring.

2013: The degreening rooms in the packing house were rebuilt, and they and the storage rooms can hold up to 58 truckloads of citrus.

2014: Heller Bros. launched a gift division and new e-commerce website. The company grows 10 different varieties of Florida citrus for sale.