Walmart Heirs Announce Bold New Project Planned for Former Headquarters Site

The heirs of the Walmart company are starting a brand new business venture, and it's something very different than we're used to from the national retail giant.

Walton heirs Tom Walton and Steuart Walton say their family is planning to build a brand new science university in Arkansas.

The Walton brothers made the bold announcement Thursday (May 8).

In a statement from Heartland Forward, an Arkansas-based think tank working with the Waltons, a new university is "being developed in collaboration with national education experts and will offer a modern, flexible, and accessible model that is both STEM-focused and business-infused."

Walmart's New University in Arkansas

The university is being created as part of a mixed-use development project, with the hopes of sparking innovation and create jobs.

The education institution will be built at the site of the former Walmart Home Office headquarters office, previously located at 8th Street and Walton Boulevard in Bentonville, Ark.

The site is also the location of late Walmart founder Sam Walton's final office. Sam passed away in 1992.

The Waltons plan for the university to welcome its first class of roughly 500 students in the next few years.

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In the future, however, the university plans to welcome up to 1,500 undergraduates and up to 500 non-degree students at its school.

According to a press release, students will be provided with full tuition in the first few years of the university's operation.

"Bentonville is the perfect place to spark catalytic change — a community rooted in innovation, entrepreneurship and bold thinking. We have the opportunity to build a new model of higher education, designed for the realities of today’s economy and the challenges of tomorrow, and set a new standard for what’s possible," Steuart said in a statement.

The name of the university has not yet been announced.