AT&T Drops Downtown Dallas for new Plano HQ

AT&T is officially leaving Downtown Dallas.

The telecommunications giant confirmed Monday that it will plant its flag in Plano after months of searching for office space across North Texas, the Dallas Morning News reported.

A new global headquarters will rise at the 54-acre site at 5400 Legacy Drive in Plano’s Legacy developement, with AT&T targeting partial occupancy as early as the second half of 2028.

The outlet reported that Stankey framed the decision as a consolidation move, saying the Plano site will allow AT&T to “cost effectively consolidate all Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex administrative space,” including major offices in Dallas, Plano and Irving, while creating a purpose-built corporate campus.

The announcement raises fresh questions about AT&T’s long-term commitment to Downtown Dallas, where the company has invested heavily over the past decade. AT&T spent roughly $100 million developing its Discovery District, a splashy downtown campus with a massive outdoor media screen, food hall and public gathering space that opened in 2021.

At its peak in 2022, AT&T had nearly 6,000 employees assigned to downtown offices. Its footprint there spans about 2 million square feet across four buildings, anchored by the 37-story Whitacre Tower at 208 South Akard Street, where its lease runs through 2030. The company relocated its headquarters to Dallas in 2008 after leaving San Antonio.

Internal data shows the majority of AT&T employees would have a shorter commute to the new Plano site, the company said.

The Plano site is owned by Dallas-based NexPoint, which controls 215 acres that include the former headquarters of Electronic Data Systems, the information technology company founded by Ross Perot. NexPoint had been planning a 4 million-square-foot mixed-use project dubbed the Texas Research Quarter, aimed at life sciences and advanced manufacturing tenants.

Plano City Council approved up to $15 million in reimbursements for the redevelopment last year through a new tax increment reinvestment zone. How AT&T’s arrival reshapes those plans remains unclear. — Eric Weilbacher