Company officials have been working on the sustainable design for a new Walmart home office campus in Bentonville, Arkansas.
“We’ve spent the past couple of years imagining what Walmart’s ‘dream home’ might look like. We’ve thought a lot about how we want to work together as our company grows and changes,” Dan Bartlett, executive vice president, corporate affairs, wrote in a blog. “With our associates and the community in mind, we’ve landed on a design that reflects our values, honors our history and enables our potential.”
The high-efficiency, state-of-the-art campus will be built on a Bentonville property bordered by Central Avenue on the north, 14th Street (Highway 102) on the south, J Street on the west and Martin Luther King, Jr., Parkway on the east, with 8th street running through the middle.
The new campus will be divided into four quadrants, or “neighborhoods,” that will be interconnected through the Razorback Greenway bike trails, shaded walking paths, sidewalks and a pedestrian crossing.
Bartlett said the modern, connected campus will “accelerate Walmart’s digital transformation and help attract the next generation of talent with state-of-the-art technology and contemporary conveniences.”
Demolition, infrastructure and utility construction will begin on the new Walmart campus this summer. In the next 18 to 24 months, the support and office buildings will be designed and construction will begin.
“Walmart has stores and associates all over the world, but our roots are here in Bentonville,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart president and CEO. “We’ve made our home in Northwest Arkansas, and that’s not changing. The new Home Office is one more way we are investing in our community and creating a brighter future.”
“Everyone is excited about a new design with more natural light. But the new campus is about more than aesthetics. It’s about designing a place where associates are inspired to do their best work, together,” said Chairman of the Walmart Board of Directors Greg Penner. “It’s about delivering creative, innovative and inspired solutions for our customers, every day. And it’s about our associates feeling at home here, regardless of where they’re from.”
The Walmart home office campus will include sustainable technology such as solar panels atop parking decks, energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems, and regionally sourced building materials, including mass timber construction.
“We’ve been working for years to be a more sustainable company, and we want our new home to reflect that,” Bartlett wrote.
The new Walmart home office campus will open in phases, expected to occur between 2020 and 2024.
