Previously, NBU residential and commercial customers had to visit the utility’s Main Plaza office downtown, the Customer Solutions Center at 1488 S. Seguin Ave., or the Service Center at 355 FM 306.
"By bringing NBU services together under one roof, we’re making it easier to get support, solve problems and deliver the level of service our customers deserve," NBU CEO Ryan Kelso said in the news release.
Funding the project
The expansion is being funded by revenue bonds, which will be paid off over the next 30 years, Kelso said.
How we got here
Kelso said the utility's 2017 Facility Master Plan prescribed the sale of its existing facilities and relocating into a central facility for efficiency. The utility sold its facilities back to the city, which will be redeveloped by the city following NBU's relocation.
NBU also conducted a workforce study to determine the number of employees the company is projected to have in the future. The utility currently has 455 staff members, and is projected to grow to 765 employees over the next 30 years, Kelso said.
Project details
NBU evaluated over 30 properties before purchasing the current site—which is 77 acres—in 2023. The property was selected based on accessibility and scale, Kelso said.
The 250,000-square-foot headquarters will consist of a 142,000-square-foot office building, 60,00-square-foot warehouse and 48,000 square feet of equipment and maintenance buildings. The expansion also includes customer service areas, expanded customer meeting and parking spaces, and a 17-acre operations yard. Currently, the utility's operations yard is 9 acres.
"From a material storage perspective we had to spread out our storage on other sites as well ... and with this expanded site we'll be able to have those materials here on site ready for our employees," Kelso said.
It will also be equipped with upgraded technology infrastructure to support the utility’s electric, water and wastewater services, according to the news release.
The impact
Direct access to the I-35 frontage road will improve employee response times to restoring water and electrical outages, Kelso said.
"Right now being on [Hwy.] 306 sometimes it takes 10-15 minutes just for our employees to get to [I-35] when their responding to outages," he said.
Looking ahead
The project is slated to be completed in summer 2027.
