►Amazon will occupy a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center under development by Prologis on C. Fred Jones Boulevard, south of Interstate 4, near the State Road 559 interchange in Auburndale.
► Hospitality veteran John Loute was named general manager of SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Lakeland.
► Polk County Manager Bill Beasley appointed Chandra Frederick to the position of assistant county manager, overseeing the planning and development divisions.
►Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland added Earl Sasser, a Harvard professor emeritus, to its board of trustees.
► Board-certified OB-GYN and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgeon Tarek G. Garas and board-certified general surgeon Anthony R. Zappia, both from Watson Clinic in Lakeland, were recognized as “surgeons of excellence” by the Surgical Review Corporation.
► The U.S. Chamber of Commerce awarded the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce with five-star accreditation for its policies, organizational procedures and impact on the community.
► Lakeland Linder International Airport received an $8.5 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, completing the pool of $27 million in combined funds needed to pay for fortifying the airport’s main runway.
► The Southwest Florida Water Management District awarded $119,000 in grants, to 65 schools within the district, as part of the Splash school grant program, which provides up to $3,000 per school to enhance students grades K-12th, knowledge of freshwater resources.
►Publix Supermarkets, based in Lakeland, announced that since 2009 it has donated more than $2 billion in food to Feeding America-member food banks and has pledged to donate another $2 billion by 2030.
► Access Church in Lakeland paid off $1.62-million worth of overdue medical bills for 1,315 families last week, in partnership with New York-based RIP Medical Debt.
► The City of Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency sold property in the Parker Street neighborhood to Green Mills Group, of Fort Lauderdale, for the construction of 80 affordable apartments.
