Photo courtesy of ExxonMobilWith employee relocation to the ExxonMobil campus already underway this spring, a company official said construction of the 385-acre campus will be complete by mid-2015.
Leslie Hushka, manager of communications for the ExxonMobil campus in Spring, said the facility was announced three years ago and is planned to accommodate 10,000 employees from upstream, downstream and chemical operations in one facility.
"All of the buildings are out of the ground," Hushka said. "They've been topped out. All the parking garages are completed. In fact, we began the move in of the first [employees] in late March, early April."
The 20-plus buildings on the ExxonMobil campus will include a 100,000-square-foot wellness center, a 17,000-square-foot child care center, a laboratory, and the Energy Center, a glass cube that stands 85 feet tall and serves as a gateway to the campus.
"Our goal with this campus is to create an innovative and collaborative work environment for our employees," she said. "As part of this, we've constructed office buildings which are really nestled within the landscape. We've kept the profiles of these buildings minimal."
Hushka said the buildings on the campus are designed to minimize water use and use natural lighting to conserve energy.
The campus will be 40 percent more efficient than the average Houston office space, she said, as it will harvest daylight and rainwater.
ExxonMobil has plans to expand the species of trees on-site from 20 to 90 species through its reforestation program, which has already begun, she said.
Deborah Rose Miller, Magnolia ISD board president, said ExxonMobil will raise the bar and be another resource to aid students with science and math learning in the community. Miller said the new campus will also cause a trickle down effect in the housing market.
"Having that big of a corporate headquarters close to us will definitely impact our students, how can it not?" Miller said. "It's going to up the ante for this whole area along with everything else that is going on."
Tana Ross, economic development coordinator for the city of Magnolia, said a group of representatives from the Montgomery County area traveled to Fairfax, Va. more than a year ago to meet with some of the 2,000 employees who will be relocating to the new campus. Ross said the new campus will boost retail and service sales in the area, and she expects home sales to continue to rise.
"There's a percentage of those folks moving here from Fairfax that are looking for exactly what Magnolia offers—everything from estate-type homes, horse and equestrian properties, to new homes and custom homes within a short driving distance to the campus," Ross said.
