Mercedes-Benz Financial Services held a grand opening May 30 for its new Fort Worth Business Center where it will employ about 900 workers.
The 200,000-square-foot, four-story facility is located at 14372 Heritage Parkway in the AllianceTexas master-planned community in northeast Fort Worth.
The center is located about a mile away from its previous location. That building, which spanned roughly 180,000 square feet, was too small to house Mercedes-Benz Financial’s growing workforce.
The company decided to keep its business center operations in AllianceTexas to maintain its employees’ commutes and work-life balance, said Peter Zieringer, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.
“When we looked at where our employees live, we did not want to move too far away from the current location. Otherwise, you’re in a situation where commute times change and you may lose people,” Zieringer said.
An estimated 900 direct and indirect employees work at the new center. Around three-quarters of the workforce is made up of direct workers who are employed by Mercedes-Benz Financial. The remaining workers are temporary contractors working with the company or are employed by businesses like food vendors offering services in the business center.
The new center has room for growth and could accommodate another 100 workers, Zieringer added.
Amenities at the center include technologies like facial recognition software and occupancy sensors; a fitness center; a café; sports courts; walking trails; and meeting areas for employees. The company is also hoping to boost productivity by offering nap pods for employees to rest during the workday.
Mercedes-Benz Financial opened its first hub in AllianceTexas in 2000. The new center is the third building it has occupied in the development. It moved into its previous space in 2007.
“To have a flagship brand like Mercedes-Benz at the front door of AllianceTexas–anyone in our business would want that kind of a customer,” said Mike Berry, president of Hillwood, which developed AllianceTexas.
“They help us tell the story of live, work and play,” Berry said. “To be able to have a high-quality workforce like the workforce that’s here not only run their business here at Alliance, but also their employees can live in the area in a wide variety of housing, and their kids go to school in great school districts. It brings more attention and more people and more positive growth to the area.”
This article originally appeared on CommunityImpact.com.
Photo Credit: CommunityImpact.com courtesy Mercedes-Benz Financial Services