L Brands Offices
Location: Central Ohio
Size: 4 campuses: 832 acres total 9 buildings 1.4 Mil SF Office 5.7 Mil SF Distribution Center
In the mid-1970’s, Acock Associates competed for, and won, the commission to design the first Limited, Inc. Corporate Headquarters. Over the last half century, Acock Associates has been involved in the development of 4 L Brands corporate campuses in the Central Ohio area, designed to headquarter their various retail businesses.
All campus facilities have been designed with flexibility in their infrastructure and amenities to be able to support the varying requirements of a newly developing, start-up brand, as well as a multi-billion-dollar, International Corporation. Each facility is designed with the same high quality and tasteful finishes that reflect their image as a leader in the fashion industry.
The improvements between the 4 corporate campuses include 7.1 million square feet of flexible office and distribution space, which can be easily adapted to meet the diverse demands of the continuously changing retail industry. The individual buildings, as well as the campuses, have the infrastructure to allow them to function autonomously or share services as necessary to support their businesses.
The design philosophy is that the businesses can be moved from one location to another within their campuses as required by the specific brand’s needs. Each building has a full range of amenities to cater to their occupants, including a full-service café with kitchens and serving areas ranging in size from 4,000 to 6,500 sq. ft., with dining areas ranging in size from 6,000 to 13,000 sq. ft., depending on the building occupancy. Some of the facilities also offer wellness centers operated by Walgreens and amenities such as Starbucks, dry cleaning, and laundry service.
Over the years, L Brands has developed, acquired, and sometimes spun off, 14 different brands whose product lines range from women and men’s apparel, lingerie, home, personal care and beauty products, specialty retail and sporting goods. The diversity of product lines, as well as growth of the brands, resulted in an ongoing exercise of moving brands within, or between, the various buildings and campuses as their spatial requirements change.
L Brands employs this philosophy not only in their office buildings, but also in their distribution centers to provide the maximum flexibility to their operations. This arrangement promotes a team atmosphere between the office and distribution center associates while allowing the entire business access to the same amenities.
