L.L. Bean to open new corporate headquarters in June

L.L. Bean is coming to the end of an eight-year campus redevelopment project.

The outdoor retailer expects to complete its new 390,000-sq.-ft. corporate headquarters in Freeport, Maine on June 15, 2023, marking the close to an eight-year, $110 million project in its hometown of Freeport, Maine. L.L. Bean began having employees work at the complex in December 2022.

According to L.L. Bean, the new headquarters was designed to connect employees with nature through views of the outdoors, natural light, indoor/outdoor meeting spaces, indoor fireplaces and outdoor fire pits, national park murals, public trails, and a 10,000 square-foot open courtyard.

L.L.Bean prioritizes sustainability in new headquarters design

The retailer included a number of sustainable elements in its new headquarters, including:

• Reuse of existing building footprint and materials where possible, saving over 1,000 tons of embedded CO2, equivalent to removing 200 cars from the road.
• Buildings run on 80% renewable electricity generated from solar installations throughout Maine
• Automatic window blinds programmed to allow three feet of sunlight into the building that rise and fall to maintain light penetration and prevent heat loss.
• Bird deterrent window decals and native pollinator plants in landscaping
• Electric vehicle charging stations.
• Dedicated outside air systems with energy recovery wheels, recovering over 60% of the energy from the exhaust airstreams, reducing the overall heating and cooling demand on the building.
• Distributed water-to-air-to-heat pumps for heating and cooling.
• All storm water run-off is treated before it leaves the site.
• Continued use of low flow toilets to save water.
• Closed loop for water used in product testing lab “rain room.”

Other design elements

• Features open to the Freeport community include a public trail and 900-seat conference and events center.
• Fitness center free to employees, spouses, partners and retired employees.
• Accessible parking, entrances and exits, restrooms and showers.
• Health clinic offering free preventative health services, injury treatment and confidential short-term counseling.
• Wellness programs (on-site and virtual).
• Self-serve cafeteria with a variety of food offerings which offers app-accessible ordering for employees throughout the campus.
• On-site coffee shop and five canteens (kitchens).
• Recycling and composting centers.
• Fourteen quiet rooms and five mother’s rooms.

“As an outdoor brand whose purpose is all about helping people to get outside, we thought it was only fitting to have a headquarters that brings the outside in for our employees,” said Shawn Gorman, L.L.Bean executive chairman and great-grandson of founder Leon Leonwood Bean. “From the beginning, this project was about honoring L.L.’s love of the outdoors with a modern, energy-efficient, and light-filled space. I think he’d be proud to see how that legacy has inspired our beautiful new workplace.”

[Read more: L.L.Bean to take break from social media]