February 4/Entertainment & Travel -- Nestle Waters North America Inc. will relocate its headquarters from Greenwich to Stamford, Conn., late in 2010. Nestle Waters has 475 employees at its headquarters, which has been located at 777 West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich since 1979. The company intends to add 25 headquarters jobs over the next three years.

Nestle Waters' new headquarters will be located at 900 Long Ridge Road, Stamford. The company will lease 164,301 square feet of space, an increase of approximately 24% from Nestle Waters' current headquarters in Greenwich. The building is owned by Oracle.

The decision to move was made for a variety of reasons, including favorable economics, an open floor plan design permitting increased employee collaboration, cafe amenities, access to public transportation, and a shorter commute for most of the company's headquarters employees, of which 70% live in Connecticut. The Stamford facility is less than 12 miles from Nestle Waters' current location.

"We are excited to remain a Connecticut-based company. Our new home in Stamford will support the collegial atmosphere we encourage among our employees," said Kim Jeffery, who joined the company in 1978 and has been president and CEO of Nestle Waters North America since 1992.

The company plans to renovate the Stamford location to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design® (LEED) standards for green buildings. In 2003, Nestle Waters' bottling facility in Stanwood, Mich., was the first in the U.S. food and beverage industry to receive LEED certification. Today, Nestle Waters has nine facilities built to LEED certification, the most of any U.S. food and beverage manufacturer.

"Our goal to renovate the new headquarters to meet LEED standards is part of an ongoing commitment to find ways to minimize our company's environmental footprint," Jeffery added.

From the February 15, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition