HighGrove Acquires Lawn Enforcement Agency Six Weeks After Entering Florida

What happened

HighGrove Partners, an Atlanta-based commercial landscaping company backed by Agellus Capital, announced on May 19, 2026, that it had completed its acquisition of Lawn Enforcement Agency (LEA), headquartered in Gainesville, Florida. The deal came six weeks after HighGrove bought Tampa-based Synergy Landscapes, the April 8 acquisition that took its commercial landscaping services into Florida. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The seller

Mike Troiano founded LEA, which has operated for more than three decades. It provides landscape management, enhancements and irrigation to clients across North and Central Florida from three locations: Gainesville, Bunnell and Ocala. Alongside maintenance, the company runs hardscape construction, pest control, and irrigation and outdoor lighting divisions, and it serves homeowners and homeowners' associations as well as commercial properties.

Apartment communities are part of the customer base. LEA is a Platinum Level supplier member of the North Central Florida Apartment Association, with irrigation repairs, landscaping and lawn maintenance, and parking lot maintenance listed as its specialties and Troiano as its president.

"Joining forces with HighGrove positions LEA for meaningful growth throughout Florida and beyond," Troiano said. "HighGrove was a natural fit for our company and culture."

The buyer

HighGrove was founded in 1989. When Agellus acquired it in November 2025, it provided commercial landscape maintenance, irrigation, arbor care and enhancement services from four locations across metro Atlanta. Agellus, founded in 2024 and based in Clayton, Missouri, invests in non-discretionary essential services businesses in the United States and Canada. At the time, co-founder and managing partner Jeff Aiello said HighGrove "provides a solid foundation on which to build our landscaping services platform."

Synergy, HighGrove's Tampa acquisition, was founded by David Kravetz in 2005 and provides landscape maintenance and enhancement, arbor care and irrigation to commercial customers across Tampa Bay and Central Florida.

The Florida buying continued after LEA. On August 25, 2026, HighGrove announced the completed acquisition of O&A Landscaping, based in the Greater Orlando area, which Carl Osborn and Rob Allis founded in 2006 and which provides landscape maintenance, enhancement, arbor care and irrigation throughout Central Florida.

On LEA, HighGrove CEO Jim McCutcheon said: "Bringing LEA into the HighGrove family opens a compelling new chapter for our presence in Florida. We view Florida as a critical market." Aiello said: "Mike has assembled a talented team and a well-run business that fits squarely within our approach to building high-quality platforms."

What this means for landscaping owners

Before April, every HighGrove location was in the Atlanta area. All three companies it has since bought in Florida were built by their founders, two in the mid-2000s and LEA more than 30 years ago, and all three do the commercial maintenance, enhancement and irrigation work HighGrove itself sells. LEA adds residential, HOA, pest control and apartment-community work on top of that core, and it is the only one of the three based in North Florida.

For a commercial landscaping owner in North or Central Florida, that means a buyer whose preferences can be read from three closed deals in the state rather than from a sponsor's stated criteria: a founder with decades in the market and a maintenance and irrigation base. Our guide on selling a landscaping business to private equity covers what to ask a buyer like this before the first conversation.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with landscaping businesses in Florida.

Own a landscaping business with $5M–$100M in revenue? We’re glad to give you an honest read on what it’s worth and who would buy it — no pitch, no pressure. Get a free valuation.

Source: Business Wire - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260519039391/en/HighGrove-Partners-Deepens-its-Commercial-Landscaping-Services-in-Florida-with-the-Acquisition-of-Lawn-Enforcement-Agency