ServiceMaster Relocates Headquarters to Memphis, Tenn.

ServiceMaster Co., a provider of housecleaning, pest control and landscaping services, announced it is moving its corporate headquarters out of Downers Grove, Ill., to Memphis, Tenn.

The company already employs more than 2,000 people in Memphis, compared with just 170 in Downers Grove, down from 1,200 before the company sold its management services division in 2001. All of its divisions are based in Memphis.

"It makes sense to have those teams housed at our Memphis campus, where we have the largest investment and concentration of employees and operations," said J. Patrick Spainhour, chairman and chief executive officer.

He said the company hopes many of the remaining Downers Grove employees will decide to make the move to Memphis.

ServiceMaster operates Merry Maids, Terminix, Rescue Rooter, TruGreen ChemLawn and other chains providing home-maintenance services. It had $4 billion in sales last year, ranking it No. 494 on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations.

The company recently received tax incentives from the Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Development Board that will save it as much as $18 million.

ServiceMaster said before a board meeting on the matter last week that relocation, severance, recruitment and other costs for the move could total around $30 million.

It has proposed to create 500 jobs, including the Downers Grove executive positions, in Memphis through the end of 2011.

ServiceMaster was founded in 1929 as a moth-proofing company by Marion E. Wade, a former minor league baseball player.

It had its beginnings in Chicago, where Wade worked out of his home. The company was incorporated in 1947.

Shares in the company rose four cents to close at $11.27 on the New York Stock Exchange, near the midpoint of its 52-week trading range of $9.66-$13.62.