Memphis, TN, September 22, 2006--ServiceMaster has a pending application with the Memphis/Shelby County Industrial Development Board that projects the company would create as many as 500 jobs, with a payroll of $200 million, over a five-year expansion period should it move its headquarters from the Chicago area to Memphis, Memphis Business Journal.
The Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development confirmed Thursday afternoon that ServiceMaster is in the process of submitting a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes application. ServiceMaster is scheduled to come before the PILOT evaluation committee on Sept. 28.
Although the application was not available Thursday for review, a memo e-mailed to ServiceMaster employees late Wednesday laid out some of the details of the possible move.
"ServiceMaster is considering relocating the Downers Grove, Ill., worldwide headquarters office because senior leadership believes the transfer of corporate departments, functions and positions would improve the speed and effectiveness of communications and decision-making," the e-mail began.
The company stated that a final decision would be made by the end of October because "a prolonged period of indecision on this important issue would perpetuate uncertainty and anxiety among key employee group, and would not be in the company's best interest."
Mark Herbison, senior vice president for economic development for the Memphis Regional Chamber, said it is the chamber's policy to not talk about projects its staff is or is not working on.
However, he said Thursday that working to locate the headquarters for a Fortune 500 company is the type of project the chamber wants to do.
"ServiceMaster is exactly the type of project and exactly the type of company we try to recruit to this city," he said.
In the company memo, ServiceMaster said it makes sense to have the company's world headquarters on a campus in Memphis, where it has its largest concentration of employees and operations.
The company has 2,315 employees in Memphis and 39,000 worldwide. All of its divisions are headquartered in Memphis, including Terminix, TruGreen ChemLawn, Merry Maids, ServiceMaster Clean, American Home Shield, Rescue Rooter and American Residential Services.
Most of the division presidents have dual offices in Memphis and Downers Grove, and the company's new chairman and CEO, J. Patrick Spainhour, a graduate of Mississippi State University, spends most of his time in Memphis and reportedly owns a home in Germantown, Tenn.
In addition to the new jobs, the company anticipates that new home purchases in 2007 alone could top $50 million, should all 165 current corporate employees move to the Memphis area.
Should the company relocate, its options would include moving to somewhere in the Ridge Lake Center -- where a large concentration of employees already exist -- and leasing additional space, or select a vacant site somewhere in Shelby County and "build a worldwide headquarters campus from the ground up."
The company anticipates that the move will cost about $21 million for relocation, severance and recruitment costs, with $5.4 million of that coming in lease penalties, rent obligations and related expenses.
"If management determines that the company's worldwide headquarters is to be moved to the Memphis area, ServiceMaster (NYSE: SVM) looks forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with the community," the memo stated.
A move away from Chicago, where the company was founded in 1929 as a moth-proofing company, has been rumored for several years since it sold its commercial cleaning business to Aramark Corp. for $800 million.
