L.L.Bean headquarters to open spring 2023
Freeport, Maine-based outdoor company L.L.Bean’s latest headquarter redevelopment project is set to be completed in the spring of 2023.
The project will be completed two years ahead of schedule, as the pandemic left more L.L.Bean staff working from home, and allowed construction to be sped up. The project, lead by construction manager Zachau Construction, was originally planned to take five years.
The $110 million project includes a 400,000-square-foot office complex in three phases on the existing headquarters site. The campus will offer a public trail, a 900-seat conference center and events center available for community use. Moreover, it will house a full-service kitchen/eatery, fitness center and health clinic, an open, 10,000-square-foot courtyard available for employees, a product-testing lab and an onsite photography studio.
L.L.Bean has been in its current headquarters for five decades, which was originally designed as a warehouse and factory. It also has a significant presence in Freeport, thanks to its downtown flagship store, an outlet store, as well as a fulfilment-and-returns center.
In March, L.L.Bean announced full-year sales of $1.8 billion in 2021, and declared the twelve-month period to be one of its most successful years to date. To date, the firm employs more than 5,500 team members globally in retail stores and across offices in Maine, Costa Rica, Japan and Hong Kong. It operates 56 U.S. stores, 24 in Japan and eight in Canada.
