Toyota shows off new Plano headquarters

PLANO, Texas - Toyota’s new North American headquarters in Plano is going to be something to see – an ultra-modern, state-of-the-art workplace with lots of 21st century design touches.

Reporters were given a sneak peak of the seven buildings totaling about 2 million square feet on the 100-acre campus Thursday.

On the outside, drought tolerant landscaping will not require fertilizers, chemicals or artificial irrigation. On-site solar panels and wind farms will produce electricity.

The mayor of Plano said the campus is a true symbol of growth in the area.

“The Toyota announcement was the catalyst. And since then we’ve so many more corporate relocations. And so from a vision standpoint, we’re creating a business park that has no rivals nationally. We have a live, work and play environment. We have residential. We have retail. We have office space. And so it’s really going to support a community within the community,” Mayor Harry Larosiliere said.

Toyota’s Jim Lentz is hoping to hire as many as 1000 North Texans with experience in finance, engineering, sales and marketing.  He's also hoping to Lure as many as 75 percent of his current Toyota employees to the area, like Derrick Brown who recently moved here.

"I can honestly say it was love at first sight. I was here back in that ice storm back in 2015 and even then, I loved the city. There is a lot of energy here, I love the culture and everyone has just been very warm and welcoming,” Lentz said.

Toyota expects the new campus to open sometime around the middle of 2017.