BENTONVILLE -- The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved the development of a new Walmart Layout Center, the first building for the retailer's new home office.
The commission voted 5-1, approving the project at 2101 S.E. Eighth St. and allowing Walmart to take construction of its new campus off the drawing board and a step closer to becoming a reality.
Home office
More information on Walmart’s new home office is available online at https://corporate.w….
The website includes a video and information on how the company is working to create a sustainable, corporate campus with roots in the community.
Source: Staff report
Other business
Bentonville’s Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:
• A property line adjustment of Lots 8-9, Block 7 of the Deming’s Addition, 415 N.W. Fourth St., creating Lot 21, Block 7.
• A property line adjustment of Lots 1-2 of Greenwich Village Communities and Lot 29 of Bentonville Industrial Park South, 2303 S.E. J St., creating Lots 3-4 of Greenwich Village Communities and Lot 34 of Bentonville Industrial Park South.
• The final plat for Windmill Farms Subdivision, 9004 Windmill Road.
• Rezoning Southeast Seventh Street, west of Southeast E Street and east of Southeast D Street, from medium-density residential to downtown edge.
• Rezoning the property on the northeast of the corner of Southeast E Street and Southeast Eighth Street from downtown market mixed-use residential to general commercial for the Momentary’s parking garage.
• Rezoning the Briartown Pocket Community, 1111 Fillmore St., from single-family residential to planned residential development.
• Renewal of a permit for Wendi Linden Childcare, 3108 N.E. 12th St.
• Development of Pain Treatment Centers of America, Southeast 30th Street and Southease Midcities Drive.
• The preliminary plat for the Walnut Grove Subdivision, Southwest Barron Road.
Source: Staff report
Richard Binns was absent from the meeting. Rod Sanders was the only dissenting vote.
Sanders said he voted against the development because he felt designers didn't present enough options for variations in the roofline's cosmetic design.
Elements of buildings' rooflines are supposed to be raised every 100 feet to breakup the building visually, he said. There are portions of the design extending for more than 500 feet without any elevated portions.
"I just thought we needed a little more information in regards of what that roofline may look like if it was this way or that way," he said. "They asked us to make a lot of decisions without showing any facts."
Company leaders announced in September 2017 the headquarters will be built on 350 acres on the east side of J Street between Central Avenue and Southeast 14th Street by downtown Bentonville.
Walmart revealed the initial plans for the campus in May 2018.
"This is an exciting first step," Anne Hatfield, Walmart's director of global communications, said Thursday.
Building the headquarters campus makes financial sense for Walmart, she said.
"A lot of the buildings right now are past their useful life," Hatfield said of the more than 20 buildings the company uses in Bentonville. "We're spending a lot of money on the maintenance of the buildings, so it just got to the point where it made sense to build a new home."
Construction on the Layout Center is projected to begin in the fall with an unknown completion date, she said. Walmart doesn't disclose the cost of capital projects, Hatfield said.
The Layout Center allows employees to test mock displays to understand how to best showcase items in stores, she said.
The about 400,000-square-foot building will include perimeter and street frontage landscaping, a pedestrian trail and a plaza and seating area, according to planning documents.
The building's primary exterior material is concrete panels and masonry, the documents said.
Hatfield said the design will be more conservative than many of those planned for the campus.
"This building has its own look," she said. "Its more of a simple look."
A Walmart microsite dedicated to the development of the new home office described the overall look of the campus as being more about creating an environment than aesthetics.
Plans for the other buildings include solar panels atop parking decks; energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems; regionally sourced building material; and a connected design, according to the website. The new campus will also feature thousands of trees, shrubs and grasses to create a habitat for wildlife, shaded paths and bike trails.
The Layout Center will move about a half-mile from 1102 S.E. Fifth St. to Eighth Street, Hatfield said. The move will set in motion a domino effect for constructing buildings and moving employees into new work spaces as the campus develops, she said.
"We've been talking about this and planning this for a long time," Hatfield said. "So, there's just a cadence of things that will have to move and in the best timeline as possible."
A fitness center will replace the Layout Center on Fifth Street, she said.
"The fitness center was always planned to be one of the first things that we build, and in order to do that, we have to move that Layout Center," she said.
The project will take years to coordinate, she said.
"As we complete facilities, then we can move some teams in," Hatfield said. "As buildings are completed, then associates will be able to move into their space."
Walmart is working with the city to ensure all buildings are vacated responsibly.
Walmart understands its responsibility to the communities it operates within, Hatfield said.
"Bentonville is our home, so we're going to be very good stewards of handling these properties," she said. "We do have an orderly process for managing our real estate portfolio. We'll work through that process like we would with any other building."
NW News on 08/07/2019