SunCoke to bring 105 jobs to Lisle

When SunCoke Energy separates from parent company Sunoco Inc. next year, it will move its headquarters to the Arboretum Lakes in Lisle and add 105 new jobs, company and state officials said Monday.

The Knoxville, Tenn.-based company aims to invest about $6.6 million in Lisle. The state is providing a $4.8 million incentive package, and Lisle is providing $5,000, officials said.

SunCoke Energy follows Navistar as two major players that are making Lisle their global headquarters. That brings more workers to the area who will boost the local economy by using hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

“This means we have the right product to offer businesses,” said Lisle Mayor Joe Broda.

SunCoke, which has provided metallurgical coke to steel makers for about 45 years, said in September that it would relocate its headquarters from Knoxville, Tenn., in 2011 after it separates from Sunoco. The company already has a manufacturing facility in Granite City, Ill., with 110 workers.

Company officials looked at various sites in the eastern half of the United States and settled on DuPage County because of its quality of life and access to O'Hare International Airport via the I-88 and I-294 tollways, the company said.

“The greater Chicago area has the resources and infrastructure to fully support the next phase of our company's growth,” Frederick A. Henderson, who will serve as chief executive officer of SunCoke, said in a statement.

The landscaped campuses of Arboretum Lakes are just south of Morton Arboretum. Lisle-based Hamilton Partners, a real estate development and investment firm which handles Arboretum Lakes, declined to comment about the SunCoke deal.