Waste Connections Plans New HQ in The Woodlands

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

Following Nexeo Solutions’ lease at the soon-to-be-built 3 Waterway Square Place, The Woodlands has landed its second out-of-state company,  Folsom, Calif.-based waste giant Waste Connections. The company has publicly disclosed its plans of relocating to the master-planned community and is currently talking to developers about building a headquarters. According to an official release, the company expects the relocation to commence before the end of 2011 and be completed by September 2012.

Although no specific location has been chosen, Waste Connections is set on The Woodlands: “Our expanding geographic reach and expected continuing growth required us to make an objective assessment of the appropriate location for our corporate headquarters. The Woodlands offers our employees an attractive, lower-cost and more centrally located community, well serviced by two major airports,” said chairman & CEO Ronald Mittelstaedt. “Every corporate employee has been offered the opportunity to relocate, and almost all are expected to move.”

The company has yet to find an interim space, but according to the Houston Chronicle, the Waterway Plaza area is one of the top choices. Waste Connections needs a minimum of 35,000 square feet of space to accommodate its current employees, but is also considering the possibility of expanding its headquarters as the company grows. According to the release, the company expects to incur an estimated $15 million in costs during 2012 related to personnel and office relocation expenses. In addition, the company may incur a loss in 2012 on its existing corporate office lease.

Founded in 1997, Waste Connections is an integrated solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services in mostly exclusive and secondary markets; the company serves more than two million residential, commercial and industrial customers from a network of operations in 29 states.