Fifth Third Ditches Downtown Dallas For Preston Center

Fifth Third Bank is officially leaving Comerica Tower in Downtown Dallas, ending months of speculation set off by news of a merger in February.

While the Ohio-based bank won’t settle into the still-under-construction site at 8300 Douglas Avenue until late 2028, it will leave its 200,000-square-foot lease at the 60-story Comerica Bank Tower at 1717 Main Street before the end of the summer. In early February, Comerica and Fifth Third merged in a $10.9 billion deal.

The lease and naming rights attached to the Comerica Bank Tower, which is owned by Slate Asset Management, are up in 2028, but Fifth Third has opted to leave early, the Dallas Morning-News reported. Fifth Third is taking 63,000 square feet at an upcoming mixed-use development from Lincoln Property Company in Preston Center that will feature a 12-story, 300,000-square-foot office building and a 17-story residential tower on two and a half acres.

The bank will do business as Fifth Third and Comerica until system conversions finalize over the Labor Day weekend, according to the publication.

Before Fifth Third moves into its new office, it will operate out of its North Park location at 8850 Boedeker Street. Fifth Third still intends to open 150 new branches in Texas, according to the outlet.

A new financial center will be placed on the first floor, with other employees situated on the seventh and eighth floors. Comerica told the Texas Workforce Commission in January that it would be laying off 184 employees working out of the bank’s Frisco Star Tower facility starting in Mid-March, according to the outlet.

Fifth Third’s exit is another blow to Downtown Dallas’ office market, which is still reeling from AT&T’s announcement of plans to move its headquarters to Plano, leaving a 2 million-square-foot hole in the already struggling submarket.

The fate of the Comerica Bank Tower is still up in the air. A redevelopment of the 60-story building is planned, with 600,000 square feet of modern offices, 240 apartments, a 242-key hotel and 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail set to be added when construction on .

— Hunter Cooke