AECOM shifts corporate HQ from LA to Dallas

Another Fortune 500 company is moving its corporate headquarters out of Los Angeles.

AECOM, the engineering and construction firm, said it will shift corporate HQ to Dallas starting in October. The firm now occupies 123,700 square feet at its current headquarters at One California Plaza in Downtown L.A.

The move will not affect the company’s operations in California, a spokesperson said this week. It did not provide a reason. The firm is the second largest tenant at its current headquarters, paying around $20 a foot in base rent on a lease that runs another 10 years.

AECOM’s move follows an identical one by CBRE last fall. The real estate services giant shifted its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas; officials said there were no immediate plans to shrink its physical space.

Now just two Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in L.A.: Reliance Steel & Aluminum and Farmers Insurance. Just outside the city’s borders, Disney is in Burbank, and Amgen is in Thousand Oaks.

For AECOM’s move, CEO Troy Rudd and other corporate execs will now operate out of the Dallas office, at 13355 Noel Road. The firm said it doesn’t have plans to change its lease or add more space at the Dallas property, where it occupied 30,000 square feet as of 2017.

The high-profile departure — if in name only — follows a similar move in January, in which AECOM shifted global headquarters from its Century City location at 1999 Avenue of the Stars to the Downtown office at 300 S. Grand Avenue.

AECOM has been an active player in L.A.’s real estate market. In May, AECOM Capital and Combined Properties secured a $500 million loan package on a just completed boutique hotel and condo complex in West Hollywood.

And while L.A, office leasing gained steam in the second quarter, activity still lagged amid the pandemic, with availability reaching over 24 percent.