Mary Kay Building New Research Facility In Lewisville
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
LEWISVILLE (CBSDFW.COM) - Officials with Mary Kay on Tuesday are breaking ground on a research and development center in Lewisville. The cosmetics company's global headquarters is located in Addison, and will remain there even after the new facility opens in two years.
The groundbreaking event comes exactly 53 years after May Kay's founder launched her company from a Dallas storefront.
Currently an open field, the 470,000 square foot manufacturing and research building will be constructed across 26 acres near the intersection of Highway 121 and Denton Tap Road. The $100 million project is slated to open in 2018.
Among the displays at Tuesday's groundbreaking will be a portrait of founder Mary Kay Ash -- made up of 11,000 lipsticks. The number of tubes is also the amount the company is able to manufacture every hour.
Along with the headquarters in Addison and now a facility in Lewisville, the company also operates a warehouse in Dallas and a distribution center in Carrollton.
Crayton Webb, the vice president of corporate communications at Mary Kay, said, "This is part of who we are. We're a great 'made in America' story. Mary Kay Ash was a great woman entrepreneur, perhaps the very first to make a name for herself, and we're so proud to be from Dallas, Texas. Given the opportunity to go elsewhere, we've chosen to stay here because we're committed to this. This is important to us. This is our home."
In the short-term, approximately 600 of the company's manufacturing employees will be relocated. However, in the long run, the new facility should result in more workers getting hired, since the company will ultimately be developing new products at this new location.