FRANKFORT Ky. -- One of Kentucky’s largest privately owned companies has decided to expand its presence in the Bluegrass State. Governor Steve Beshear and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer have announced that convenience-store and gas-station retailer Thorntons Inc. is expanding its headquarters in Louisville with a move to a larger facility.
Thorntons will create 110 jobs and invest nearly $27.8 million into the project.
Thorntons will be relocating from its current 46,000-square-foot facility to a new 92,500-square-foot store support center; it expects to begin construction later this year. Due to company growth, Thorntons made the decision to expand to operate more efficiently.
“We are proud to call Louisville our hometown, and we’re excited about expanding our Store Support Center in Louisville,” said Matt Thornton, CEO of Thorntons. “The Louisville community has been very good to us over the years, and we couldn’t think of a better place from which to grow our business.”
Family-owned Thorntons was established in 1971, and has since grown to include 182 convenience stores and gas stations in six states.
“The decision from Thorntons to expand in Louisville is great news for both the city and the Commonwealth,” said Beshear. “When a company that has called Kentucky home for more than 40 years decides to remain here for a major expansion, it shows that we have established a successful partnership. We look forward to continued work with this rapidly growing Kentucky company.”
Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, chief of Louisville Forward, the city’s economic development organization, said, “In addition to their traditional fuel business, we are beyond excited that Thorntons is entering into a new food market with their fresh foods division that will add to Louisville’s growing strength in the food and beverage sector. Thorntons has continued to be an excellent corporate citizen, and we look forward to helping them grow their business throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.”
To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $2 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the term of the agreement through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
Additionally, KEDFA approved a $600,000 in tax incentives for Thorntons through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act (KEIA), which allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing equipment.
Thorntons is also eligible to receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the network, companies are eligible to receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives. Last year, the Kentucky Skills Network trained more than 84,000 employees from more than 4,100 Kentucky companies.
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