Monday was Mark Foley’s first day working at his company’s new Nashville headquarters. Just before moving in, he almost doubled the size of that office space atop the Gulch Union tower.
Foley is the CEO of Revance Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: RVNC), which is among the latest in a string of California companies that have relocated to Middle Tennessee during the Covid-19 pandemic. The 20-year-old biotech company committed to move its headquarters from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Gulch late last year.
Revance originally signed a long-term lease for 40,661 square feet, or all of Gulch Union’s 20th floor and part of its ninth. Now, Revance has leased another 30,600 square feet — swelling its footprint by 75%, taking all of the new tower’s 19th floor.
Foley said hiring has happened faster than expected, and more employees internally are volunteering to move to Nashville. Revance has hired almost 40 people thus far. Another 25 have arrived from other company offices.
With the newly leased space, the company now has enough room for about 300 employees, double the job creation it pledged with state officials in exchange for $1.25 million of incentives.
“The thesis is working out. We’ve been able to attract a lot of the key talent we were hoping to when we moved here originally,” Foley said in an interview. “We’re seeing a number of hand-raisers from our California locations, saying ‘Would you be open to us relocating?’ So we’re trying to anticipate some of that increased demand.”
Foley himself reflects that enthusiasm. He and his wife originally rented an apartment in Nashville, planning to make frequent trips to Revance’s offices and laboratory and manufacturing facilities in California. “As we got out here, we said, ‘Let’s go all-in,’ ” Foley said. He’s sold his house in California and purchased a multimillion-dollar home in Brentwood.
It’s been Foley’s plan all along to keep those California facilities open.
“We were a little worried we might have some [California] people in critical roles who might feel, ‘my days are numbered,’ ” Foley said. “We went from concern about people worried about their long-term stability of their job if they’re not willing to move, to now, people are seeing we’re committed to a distributed work environment.”
Anticipated business growth also is driving Foley to add office space. Revance makes a Botox alternative and is nearing FDA approval for a frown-line treatment. Revance also is exploring potential treatments for issues such as crow’s feet, arm spasms, neck-muscle contractions called cervical dystonia. In the last year, Revance logged its first commercial sales, licensed a product from Europe and bought a fintech firm, giving the company its own payment platform.
“We understand that growth, whenever possible, will come from Nashville, for obvious reasons,” Foley said. “Now we have to figure out how we manage that, because we made some investments in [California] facilities. We’re trying to figure that out real-time.”
In addition to hiring, Foley said he is working to establish himself in the community. Revance is hosting summer interns from Fisk University and Lipscomb University. The company, valued at $2.3 billion on the stock market, has donated to the W.O. Smith Music School and also True You Tennessee, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ youth.
