Rendering of new Valvoline building in Lexington (Photo provided)
Ashland Inc. celebrated a new 162,400-square-foot office building on its Lexington campus Monday. The new building will serve as the global headquarters for Valvoline, a business unit of Ashland that has been based in Lexington for more than 30 years.
Ashland’s headquarters are located in Covington. Ashland announced plans in September to spin off Valvoline into a new publicly traded company.
The new facility, which Ashland plans to lease, is being built in the northwest corner of its existing campus off Palumbo Drive, on land already owned by Ashland. The $35 million development is slated to be completed by February 2017.
Ashland currently leases space in two buildings for its roughly 600 Lexington-based employees. The lease on those two existing campus buildings, which were built for Ashland in the early 1980s, will expire in March 2017.
“This is an exciting day as we begin construction on a modern, world-class facility that will reflect the essence of Valvoline’s iconic 150-year-old brand,” said Sam Mitchell, Ashland senior vice president and Valvoline president. “When completed, this new facility will combine Valvoline’s rich legacy of product innovation with an open floor plan, efficient work space design and sustainable footprint.”
Verus Partners and Solomon Cordell Buenz are serving as the project developer and architect, respectively. Messer Construction Co. is serving as general contractor. The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) have offered up to $1 million in support, subject to approval by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority and LFUCG Urban County Council.
“Ashland’s presence in Lexington has always been a vote of confidence in our city’s workforce and quality of life,” Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said. “Lexington is a university city that embraces talent, ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit. Ashland is a company that exemplifies those values.”
Headquartered in Covington, Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a global leader in providing specialty chemical solutions to customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including adhesives, architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical.
