After more than two decades at its current location off State Road 60, Land’s Used Trucks and Equipment is moving to a new home.
Later this month, the business will pull into a new driveway, moving their operations to the old Lott-Mather dealership site, 2900 James L. Redman Parkway, Plant City.
“It’s time for a different thing,” owner Richard Land said. “It’s time for a move.”
Land said he has had been eyeing the property for years. So, when the opportunity to lease the property came up, he took it.
The new location will allow the business to be closer to the heart of Plant City and give the business more room to display the inventory. The location also will give the business space to house a new shop, where Land’s son, also named Richard, builds the trucks.
“We could probably stay (at the current location) forever, but we don’t want to stay in the dark,” Land said.
Land’s Used Trucks and Equipment has traveled a long, successful road in its 22-year history. Land started the business in the back yard of his Valrico home. Land’s grandfather had worked harvesting oranges. Land then learned the trucking business from him.
“He just bought one and sold it, then bought two and sold it and it just grew from there,” Richard said.
The business moved in 1995, to its current location.
Land’s Used Trucks and Equipment can build any type of truck including flatbeds, box trucks, dump trucks and utility trucks. There are about 100 trucks in inventory on the property at a given time.
Land’s brother, David, works at the business as a salesman. In its history, the company has shipped trucks as far away as South America, Africa and even Russia.
“We’ve sold them all over,” David Land said. “Ain’t too many countries we haven’t sold a truck to.”
Land’s also sells many trucks locally to strawberry farmers.
Richard Land said he is excited about more room for the shop. Working in the business since he was young, his main responsibility is building the trucks.
“Nothing leaves here without me working on it,” Richard said. “You get to work on something new every day.”
Land has been wanting to move the business for a while. He originally looked at a space by Interstate 4 and McIntosh Road. He also looked closer to Tampa near U.S. 301. But, ultimately, he decided to stay local.
The Lott-Mather Buick Pontiac GMC car dealership, owned by Rick Lott and Bill Mather, closed in 2009, along with Lott-Mather Chevrolet, in Haines City, and a third dealership in Fitzgerald, Ga.
According to public records, Lott Mather Partners, Inc. bought the property in 2000, for $1.55 million, from Conley Buick and Pontiac dealership.
A private investor purchased the 9.9-acre property in May. Plant City-based City Properties will be handling the leasing.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
