Last Friday, eBay officially opened its newest facility in Draper, Utah to much local fanfare. Over a dozen reporters came out to see Utah Governor Gary Herbert, eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe, eBay Vice President of Customer Service Scott Murray, and many more cut the green ribbon to the LEED-approved building and speak about how the opening would positively impact the state of Utah.
The new facility will be home to 1,800 current employees across a number of different business units and executives hope to bring more jobs — roughly 1,400 — to Utah in the coming years. ”The talent pool in Utah is incredible,” Murray told the Associated Press, specifically pointing to the availability of software engineers and Mormon missionaries with foreign language skills.
Fox 13 noted that the new 240,000 square foot facility is LEED Gold Certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), meaning the two-building campus leaves a minimal carbon footprint.
Other media picked up on the Draper facility’s amenities for employees. The new campus features a second building just for creature comforts, notes the Salt Lake Tribune, including a cafe, fitness room and 400-seat auditorium.
The new facility represents “getting us into one place (and) reinforcing our sense of community and how important it is to us,” Murray said, as noted by the Deseret News.
“For us, this is a key moment to actually be together as one group and to be able to give our teammates amazing amenities and a great place to work,” he said.