Walmart unveils new headquarters plans

COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.
COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

BENTONVILLE -- Walmart's new home office will feature several buildings surrounded by outdoor features, including paths and bike trails, company officials announced today.

Company leaders revealed plans for the new headquarters to be built on 350 acres on the east side of J Street between Central Avenue and Arkansas 102 near downtown Bentonville.

The retailer announced its plan to move the headquarters in September 2017.

Demolition, infrastructure and utility construction on the new site will start this summer, according to a company news release. Construction is set to begin in the following 18-24 months.

The company has buildings on the new site. Those employees will move out before construction begins.

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COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

Construction on Walmart's new layout center on the site will begin later this year. The existing layout center is where the Walton Life Fitness Center will be built.

Doug McMillon, Walmart president and CEO, said in a post on the company's website he expects the project will take five to seven years to complete.

"Arkansas has been good to us, and there's nowhere else we'd rather call home. When I imagine the next 60 years, I can't help but smile at the possibilities," McMillon said in a news release.

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COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

"Walmart has stores and associates all over the world, but our roots are here in Bentonville. We've made our home in Northwest Arkansas, and that's not changing," he stated.

Dan Bartlett, Walmart's executive vice president of corporate affairs, said in the news release the new campus will include natural light, expanded food offerings, fitness options and a childcare facility.

The buildings will include solar panels atop parking decks; energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems; and regionally sourced building materials, Bartlett said.

McMillon stated in the website post the current headquarters on the corner of Southwest Eighth Street and Walton Boulevard was what Walmart needed in 1971. The company's management now works out of more than 20 buildings in Northwest Arkansas. McMillon said many off those buildings are "beyond their shelf life.

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COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

Company officials said they have not decided what will happen to the current headquarters.

"They are expensive and inefficient to maintain, costing millions of dollars of accelerating upkeep every year," he state. "And because they are so dispersed, they literally encourage us to work in silos and cause us to waste time and energy traveling between locations, many of which have inadequate parking options."

The new Walmart headquarters campus is expected to be home to 14,000 to 17,000 employees.

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COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

Most current home office workers in Northwest Arkansas will move to the new campus, but officials have not made final decisions, according to Walmart's web post. Workers at the Sam's Club support office and the new Springdale Call Center will not move.

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COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

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COURTESY IMAGES Rendering for the new Walmart home office.

NW News on 05/18/2019

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