Is AT&T looking to relocate its headquarters from downtown Dallas to the northern suburbs?
The Dallas-based telecom giant won’t comment on the “open secret” that it is shopping for office space, but company executives have been spotted touring suburban office sites, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
In Plano, that includes The Park at Legacy, a 1.8 million-square-foot campus located at 6501 Legacy Drive, the current home to JCPenney’s headquarters. Capital Commercial Investments and Streetlights Residential are redeveloping the 107-acre campus into mixed-use, including luxury apartments. It’s unknown whether the real estate prospecting is for additional space or a relocation of its global headquarters.
AT&T holds a 1.1 million-square-foot lease at the 37-story Whitacre Tower, at 208 South Akard Street in downtown Dallas, through 2030. The company has been headquartered there since 2008, when the firm exited San Antonio for North Texas.
AT&T hasn’t commented on its real estate plans in the region, but recent moves point to interest in suburban Dallas areas. AT&T signed a 12-year lease for 186,000 square feet at Lakeside Boulevard Tower in Richardson in May, marking one of the largest recent expansions in the Dallas-Fort Worth office market.
The company has about 400 employees in Richardson, and it made the move with plans to consolidate several regional sites into the space, at 2221 Lakeside Boulevard, to grow its local headcount to as many as 1,400. The lease spans seven floors and will support an expanded call center operation.
AT&T also recently sold an unoccupied 206,000-square-foot office building at 4331 Communications Drive in West Dallas’ Pinnacle Park. The four-story building was used for customer-service operations.
The company might also need more space for employees since its return-to-office mandate took effect in January. The company, led by CEO John Stankey, is one of the nation’s largest private employers, with about 150,000 employees.
Doug Agarwal, founder and president of Austin-based Capital Commercial Investments — the company that owns The Park at Legacy — purchased the complex in 2021. He declined to comment on AT&T mulling the location but told the outlet that the complex is one of the largest office properties in the Metroplex and has in recent months attracted interest from large corporate tenants.
Redevelopment plans include apartments, office buildings, hotels and retail. The firm plans four office buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet. It is partnering with StreetLights Residential to develop two apartment towers, rising 20 and 22 stories, with up to 750 luxury units. Plans also include 425 hotel rooms and 20,000 square feet of retail as well as dog parks, sports courts, and 4 miles of walking trails around a 4-acre pond.
— Eric Weilbacher