HICKORY, Ky. — HVAC Distributing LLC, a national wholesale distributor of heating and air conditioning equipment, plans to expand its Graves County operations for a second time, with a $5.35 million investment creating 40 full-time jobs.
HVAC Distributing’s expansion provides growth space to form the Hickory headquarters for MRCOOL and provide space for its recent launch, MRCOOL Franchising LLC. For this expansion, the teams plan to build 22,000 square feet of office space at the Remington Way location in the Hickory Industrial Park (HIP). The expansion will bring the facility to 120,750 square feet and complement the 100,000-square-foot distribution site up the hill as part of the HIP campus. The expanded operation will include two floors of office space, a large showroom, a video graphics area for marketing, a technical, customer service and warranty teams call center, and a training facility for employees, dealers and franchisees.
“I’m so proud we’ve made a big impact in our community and across the country with what’s really a simple idea: HVAC should be accessible and affordable for everybody,” said Jason Ingram, managing member of HVAC Distributing. “Apparently, many people like that idea because we’ve seen exponential growth year after year, which has required us to expand our operating space significantly beyond what we ever thought we would need. This new expansion will let us do a lot more and provide a headquarters for MRCOOL Franchising LLC launched earlier this year. We’re so proud to be a part of Graves County, we’re proud to be able to employ so many families, and we’re honored to be recognized by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority and the Governor’s Office. It really means a lot to us.”
Founded in Hickory in 2013, HVAC Distributing is a national wholesale heating and air conditioning equipment distributor. The next year, the MRCOOL brand came to life and MRCOOL LLC was established. Their most recent development, MRCOOL Franchising LLC, launched in 2023 to foster growth throughout the U.S. and Canada, promising to deliver quality HVAC products faster and establish MRCOOL as a household name. The family-owned business provides logistics support to MRCOOL, its vast product line, including DIY mini splits, GEOCOOL and a long list of contractor-grade products, all backed by MRCOOL’s technical and warranty support in Hickory.
To encourage investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) today preliminarily approved a 15-year incentive agreement with the company under the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based agreement can provide up to $500,000 in tax incentives based on the company’s investment of $5.35 million and annual targets of:
- Creation and maintenance of 40 Kentucky-resident, full-time jobs across 15 years; and
- Paying an average hourly wage of $26.00, including benefits across those jobs.
By meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, the company can be eligible to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates. The company may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability and/or wage assessments.
In addition, HVAC Distributing can receive resources from Kentucky’s workforce service providers. Those include no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job-training incentives.
