Lexington-based Tempur-Pedic, a global company focused on innovative sleep products, has announced it will invest $18 million to expand its worldwide headquarters by building a new 100,000-sq.-ft. facility in the University of Kentucky's Coldstream Research Campus. Construction begins this fall and should be completed by December 2012. Over the next five years, the project will add 65 jobs to the firm's existing work force of 237 associates.

Tempur-Pedic is a billion-dollar company that started in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1993. It develops, manufactures, and markets advanced sleep products sold in over 80 countries. Tempur-Pedic CEO Mark Sarvary said his firm "couldn't be more pleased that our success is driving expansion into a new facility, creating new job opportunities right here in the heart of the Bluegrass."

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved Tempur-Pedic for performance-based tax incentives up to $8 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The incentive allows the company to keep a portion of its investment over a five-year period through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job/investment targets.

A state-funded impact study shows the number of direct, indirect, and induced jobs that will result from Tempur-Pedic's existing and new employment is 772, and that these jobs provide an annual $72.8 million boost to Kentucky's GDP.