Walmart officials say new HQ is ‘everyone’s campus,’ honors Walton legacy

by Kim Souza ([email protected]) 523 views 

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon speaks about the campus during Friday’s meeting to open the campus. (photo by Meredith Mashburn)

Unable to renew a store lease in Newport, Ark., and the desire to reach better hunting areas are two of the many reasons Sam Walton moved his small retail store to downtown Bentonville, and part of the genesis of the city now being home to the world’s largest retailer.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillion noted the history of Bentonville-based Walmart during Friday’s opening of the new 350-acre corporate campus.

“It’s a nice to time reflect and it’s a great way to honor Sam and Helen Walton,” McMillon said.

He said Walmart also didn’t land in Bentonville. Helen and Sam Walton’s first store was in Newport, but when he couldn’t get a lease renewed they looked for property in Siloam Springs and ended up on the square in downtown Bentonville.

“Sam loved that he could get from here to hunt in four different states with four different hunting seasons. Soon after he settled in on the Bentonville Square he sought to expand the store and did so. That sounds like a very Sam Walton thing to do,” he added.

Walmart declined to reveal the total estimated cost of the expansive project, except to say it was a multibillion-dollar investment.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon (photo by Meredith Mashburn)

McMillon said the new campus has come a long way from the first conversations he and Board Chairman Greg Penner first had in 2017 about the possibility of a new corporate campus.

McMillon thanked Penner, the board and the Walton Family for supporting the investment.

“They did not ask us to go shop other regions for the project and I am very grateful for that. Today is a look at what the future might look like. While we are a 60-plus year company in many ways we are just getting started,” he said.

Cindi Marsiglio, senior vice president of real estate at Walmart, opened the event and said it’s been a long seven-plus years but the campus will officially open for business on Jan. 20.

Cindi Marsiglio, senior vice president of real estate at Walmart (photo by Meredith Mashburn)

“On Monday, we have meetings scheduled upstairs and the Spark Shop-Welcome Center is open and we have people already working in the first two office buildings. We have been giving tours of the campus for guests and our associates all day,” she said Friday.

Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs at Walmart, worked with Marsiglio on the home office project. Bartlett said Walmart sought to include the community in the design because sometimes large corporations wall off their corporate offices. Public streets run through the Walmart campus as do pedestrian and biking trails with retail storefronts on main street areas that are open to the general public.

“This is going to be everyone’s campus, not (just) those who work at Walmart,” Bartlett said.

THE TIMELINE SUMMARY
Marsiglio said beginning in 2017 Walmart spent a lot of time obtaining building permits, developing the master plan, and demolishing a lot of property to clear a blank slate for the new campus.

The crowd lines up Friday morning (Jan. 17) at Sam Walton Hall for the opening presentation. (photo by Meredith Mashburn)

Walmart purchased a tree farm where 5,000 trees were incubated, and 300 existing trees on the campus were retained.

The campus includes two utility buildings and electric lines were buried. Walmart said there are more than 100 miles of underground wiring and other infrastructure built to support the campus. Walmart also worked with the city and others to move a power substation.

By early 2022, Walmart accelerated the building of its parking decks, which are prefabricated facades that came up fast. Much of the work in 2022 and 2023 was on the green nature part of the campus which comprises 50% of the 350 acres. In 2024, Walmart opened the fitness center which just celebrated its first anniversary with 750,000 visits during the year. The child care center also opened in 2024 and Marsiglio said it cares for 400 children, which added 15% capacity to the region’s childcare capacity.

She thanked the Walton Family for funding the fitness center and childcare facility which allowed Walmart to open them sooner.

The new corporate campus includes numerous walkways. (photo by Meredith Mashburn)

OTHER FEATURES
The new AC Hotel by Marriott on the campus is still under construction. The hotel, which is located on the Razorback Greenway, will have 153 rooms and a rooftop bar. She expects most of the rooms will be occupied by Walmart people during the week, but the hotel is also open to the public. The hotel is expected to open in the fall.

Marsiglio said Walmart plans to open a building each month with 10 more offices to finish by the end of the year.

The campus also features two commissioned large water features in the outdoor meeting spaces and along the trails. Sam Walton Hall is situated in the middle of campus and the expansive building showcases one of his planes which is hanging overhead in the foyer.

Walmart will hold its now legendary Saturday morning meetings and other large events in the 1,500-seat auditorium but there is also a 1,500-seat conference center in the building that can be divided into six smaller meeting areas. The Helen Walton amphitheater is located across the street. Walmart built the amphitheater to include elements that harken back to the picnic meetings held on the grounds of the family home for employees in the early years of the company. The public also has access to the amphitheater.

Gov. Sarah Sanders spoke at the Friday campus opening. (photo by Meredith Mashburn)

Marsiglio said Walmart is also building a pedestrian walkway across Moberly Lane to connect the David Glass Technology Center with the main campus. The campus extends from 14th Street north to Central Boulevard and J. Street, east to Moberly Lane and Interstate 49. The 8th Street Exit off of I-49 will run through the center of the new campus as a four-lane thoroughfare with sidewalks and a bike path to Walton Boulevard.

Bartlett said 8th Street opens again to the public by Saturday morning and should help relieve traffic congestion on the east-to-west streets from the interstate into Bentonville.