Company’s growth represents 40 new jobs and $15 million investment
PADUCAH, Ky. (Feb. 8, 2012) – Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson Wednesday joined company and community officials in Paducah to unveil a new 166,261 sq. ft. distribution facility for the H.T. Hackney Co. The wholesale distributor, which employs 117 full-time workers, plans to add 40 new jobs as part of the expansion and will make a more than $15 million investment in the Commonwealth.
Governor Steve Beshear applauded the opening of the new distribution facility, which was first announced in 2008.
“Kentucky is proud to have H.T. Hackney as a major force in retail distribution, not only here in the Commonwealth, but across the country,” Beshear said. “The expansion in Paducah means incomes for 40 Kentucky families, providing a better quality of life for the new employees and a stronger economy for the Commonwealth.”
“A major goal of our administration is to improve the economic development landscape across the entire Commonwealth,” Abramson said. “With the expansion of H.T. Hackney in Paducah, we are keeping that promise by providing one of our outstanding corporate citizens with the tools it needs to expand and hire more of our workforce.”
H.T. Hackney is one of the largest wholesale distributors in the United States, with 30 supply centers serving more than 20,000 retail customers in 22 states.
“We are happy to expand our distribution center in a community that has readily available industrial parks that allow us to reduce our down time,” said Dean Ballinger, H.T. Hackney’s vice president and chief operating officer. “Paducah is a leading location choice for the distributors. The incentive certainly helped us make a favorable decision for Paducah.”
“Paducah offers everything we need to successfully serve our existing and future customers,” said Steve Butler, manager of the expanded Paducah operation. “The city offers us a logistic advantage.”
To encourage the expansion in McCracken County, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved H.T. Hackney for tax benefits up to $588,000 through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act. This program 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.
“We are excited that H.T. Hackney, which has been an employer in Paducah for the past 22 years, is continuing to invest not only in our community, but in our workforce,” said Sen. Robert Leeper, of Paducah.
“H.T. Hackney has been a major supplier to the supermarket and convenience store industry for more than 100 years and has been a major corporate citizen of our region,” said Rep. Brent Housman, of Paducah. “I’m pleased that today’s ribbon-cutting further cements the economic relationship between the company and our community for many decades to come.”
“H. T. Hackney is a terrific example of a privately held and well-managed firm continuing on the path of success,” said Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton. “We are a community on the move with tremendous resources for regionally and nationally based distributors. The decision by H. T. Hackney to expand the existing distribution center in Paducah says we have an excellent labor pool to meet the current and future needs of the company.”
“H. T. Hackney is a regionally known and respected company with several options to expand its distribution center in the Midwest,” McCracken County Judge-Executive Van Newberry said. “In the final analysis, H. T. Hackney selected Paducah/McCracken County. This expanded distribution center in Paducah is evidence of the importance of our central location and growing region. The McCracken County Fiscal Court welcomes the H. T. Hackney expansion.”
For more information on H.T. Hackney, visit www.hthackney.com.
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