Fortune 500 company boosts Brentwood HQ

By   –  Senior Reporter, Nashville Business Journal

One of Greater Nashville’s Fortune 500 companies is expanding its headquarters, spurred by growth stemming from a nearly $500 million acquisition.

Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK) and the state of Tennessee announced Thursday that the company will add 175 jobs over the next four or five years. The company will receive an undisclosed amount of incentives for its $4 million investment.

Delek, headquartered in Brentwood, is fundamentally an energy company, with a range of revenue streams related to that central theme. The company owns refineries, logistics and asphalt operations, renewable energy plants and convenience stores.

Delek has already added dozens of the 175 announced new jobs in the wake of its mid-2017 purchase of Alon USA Energy Inc., said Delek spokesman Keith Johnson. Johnson estimated that Delek had about 220 employees at its headquarters when the acquisition was finalized, and has since added roughly 70 jobs, pushing headcount at headquarters near 300. Johnson said those newly added jobs, and the others Delek intends to create in exchange for state incentives, cover a range of positions such as finance, IT, human resources and customer support.

“We are constantly looking to attract more high-quality job opportunities for Tennesseans. Delek’s decision to expand its headquarters in Middle Tennessee promises to do just that,” said Bobby Rolfe, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

A department spokesman confirmed that Delek is negotiating for incentives from the state. A grant contract has not yet been finalized, so details on how much money Delek could receive are not yet public, the spokesman said. The Tennessee Valley Authority also is aiding Delek’s expansion, as indicated by the presence of a quote from a TVA executive in the state’s announcement.

For its headquarters, Delek leases the 54,000-square-foot building at 7102 Commerce Way. Delek’s lease expires in April 2022, according to its regulatory filings. Delek has nosed around for a new headquarters off-and-on in recent years.

“As we grow, we’ll probably need additional space of some sort,” Johnson said.

Delek freed some space in Brentwood when it spun off the Mapco convenience-store chain in late 2016. By nature of acquiring Alon, Delek became the largest 7-Eleven franchisee in the U.S., with about 300 convenience stores in Texas and New Mexico.