SHERIDAN, WYOMING – November 25, 2025 – From a compact 1970s office building to a reimagined, art-filled campus, BMW of North America’s headquarters story in northern New Jersey is really a story about how our workplaces – and the way we live and work – have changed over the last 50 years.
From Small Distributor to Growing U.S. Powerhouse
When BMW of North America was founded in 1975, it inherited a striking Rotwein + Blake–designed building in Montvale from Hoffman Motors Corporation. At the time, that was enough for a small distributorship bringing in around 13,000 cars a year. But within a decade, BMW NA had grown into a serious U.S. player, with 370 employees and sales of 100,000 cars a year – and the original building simply couldn’t keep up.
In 1986, CEO Dr. Günther Kramer commissioned a new, ultra-modern headquarters at 300 Chestnut Ridge Road in Woodcliff Lake, completed in 1988 by Princeton firm CUH2A. It was big enough to bring together the executive staff and the motorcycle division, and it symbolized BMW’s long-term commitment to the U.S. market. Still, even that imposing building would eventually be outgrown as the brand’s American success continued.
Building a Campus for a Bigger, Greener Future
As sales tripled and staff numbers swelled, BMW NA started quietly planning ahead. Along with commissioning the 300 building, Kramer also secured a 40-acre plot of land nearby. In 2004, then-CEO Tom Purves expanded that with another 45 acres, including a 130,000-square-foot former Ingersoll-Rand headquarters at 200 Chestnut Ridge Road.
In 2005, Purves announced an ambitious $100 million expansion to create a South Campus. The Ingersoll-Rand building would be upgraded for energy efficiency and used for Aftersales, BMW Motorrad, and other units, while a new Technical Training Center and Eastern Region offices were planned. “We were seeking something that speaks to the BMW commitment to design elegance,” Purves told The New York Times in 2005. “We also wanted a building that would reflect our commitment to the natural environment and energy consumption reduction.”
New York architecture firm HOK responded with an ultramodern glass-and-steel structure designed to work with nature, not against it. Windows and skylights reduced the need for artificial light, wind provided natural ventilation, and exterior louvers opened and closed automatically to help regulate temperature. Radiant floor heating and surrounding bioswales – small wetlands to treat runoff – made the campus feel both high-tech and quietly sustainable.
From Closed Offices to Hybrid Work Reality
By 2008, BMW NA’s South Campus was complete, including engineering workshops and vehicle storage at 150 Chestnut Ridge Road. With room for around 1,000 employees, it more than doubled the capacity BMW NA had when it started in the U.S. three decades earlier. But the way people worked was already starting to change.
The original 300 building, laid out in a traditional closed-office style, began to feel dated. In 2011, BMW hired Jarmel Kizel Architects and Engineers to reconfigure the space into an open-plan layout using a flexible post-and-beam system. Later, the pandemic dramatically accelerated the shift: employees worked entirely from home at first, then moved to a hybrid model in which people returned to the office only two or three days a week.
At the same time, structural repairs were needed for the 300 building and its parking garage. Instead of simply patching things up, BMW took the opportunity to rethink the entire campus for a hybrid, more fluid style of work.
A Brutalist Shell with a Warm, Creative Heart
The former Ingersoll-Rand building at 200 Chestnut Ridge Road (now 200 BMW Drive) was renovated a second time to become the new BMW NA headquarters. BMW embraced its 1970s Brutalist architecture, refreshing it with a surprisingly warm and modern interior. As a BMW of North America press release put it, “The raw beauty of the exposed concrete structure is complemented by dynamic feature elements: energy-efficient angled LED lighting, saturated graphics, dimensional wood elements, and jewel-tone accents.”
Daylight flows across the open floors, helped by higher ceilings and exposed structures. More than 25 pieces of art – including works by Alfred Jensen and Alex Katz – were brought out of storage and displayed throughout the building. A dramatic two-story entry pavilion with a structural-glazed façade creates what BMW calls “a monumental sense of arrival” and opens onto a vibrant communal green space.
Beyond the lobby, the interior feels more like a contemporary co-working space than a traditional corporate HQ. A “Main Street” circulation path connects workstations, informal meeting areas, and a full-service cafeteria, encouraging chance encounters and cross-team collaboration. Individual offices are mostly gone, replaced with flexible workstations, lockers, and plenty of shared zones that support everything from quiet focus time to fast brainstorming sessions.
Mini FAQ: What BMW’s New HQ Says About the Future of Work
- Is this just about a new building?
Not really – it’s about BMW reshaping its U.S. campus around hybrid work, flexibility, and wellbeing. - How do digital tools fit in?
Platforms like Microsoft Teams help connect office and remote employees, and link BMW NA to BMW AG in Munich seamlessly. - Why remove most private offices?
To make space more adaptable, encourage interaction, and support different work styles over the course of the week. - What’s the bigger idea?
As Ilka Horstmeier says, “With the new BMW North America headquarters, we foster cohesion, innovation power, and ultimately growth and success.”
Today, BMW of North America’s reimagined campus combines the new headquarters building with a dedicated training and regional facility and another building for engineering, vehicle administration, workshops, and test vehicle storage. While the classic 300 building and about 21 acres of land will be sold, BMW’s presence in Woodcliff Lake keeps evolving to match a new era of work in which the office is not just where we go, but how and when we choose to collaborate.
Discover BMW vehicles, innovation stories and ownership options for U.S. drivers at https://www.bmwusa.com.