Fifth Third–Comerica Merger Closes With Dallas Tower in Limbo

A $10.9 billion merger between Comerica and Ohio-based Fifth Third has officially closed, creating the nation’s ninth-largest bank and throwing a fresh spotlight on one of downtown Dallas’ most closely watched office buildings.

The combined company now controls $294 billion in assets and will operate under the Fifth Third corporate name, though customers won’t see an immediate rebrand. CEO Tim Spence said the bank will continue doing business as both Fifth Third and Comerica until technology systems are unified, according to an interview with The Dallas Morning News.

That transition period — expected to stretch through a systems conversion planned around Labor Day — means the Comerica name will stay across North Texas, including atop the 60-story Comerica Bank Tower downtown at 1717 Main Street and at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

“Our intent today is to do the systems conversions over Labor Day weekend,” Spence told the paper, adding that the bank wants to avoid confusing customers in Comerica markets by switching names too quickly.

The pause offers at least temporary certainty for the downtown skyscraper. The tower’s naming rights are tied to Comerica’s lease, which runs through 2028 and covers about 200,000 square feet of the building’s roughly 1.5 million square feet. Spence told the outlet that about 350 employees work out of the tower, though Downtown Dallas Incorporated pegs the number north of 1,000.

The building’s future has drawn outsized attention as downtown grapples with office vacancies, quality-of-life concerns and the looming departure of AT&T from its longtime headquarters. The Comerica tower was sold in 2024 to Toronto-based Slate Asset Management and is managed by Stream Realty, which has floated a major redevelopment that would add hotel and residential components.

Spence signaled no immediate shake-up. Asked whether Fifth Third might break the lease or exit early, he said there are “no firm plans on that front,” though he acknowledged discussions with the landlord about redevelopment scenarios.

“The landlord may have a lot of different plans,” Spence said. “We have to have a dialogue with them about what their vision is.”

Beyond downtown, Comerica also operates a Business and Innovation Hub at Frisco’s Star Tower, announced in 2022. The hub employs about 350 people, though that figure may shift after a previously disclosed round of 184 layoffs set to take effect in March.

“We like having a city center presence,” Spence said. “So we do expect to have multiple office locations.”

Dallas-Fort Worth will remain one of five major employment hubs for the merged bank, he said, even as the company works to streamline and reduce redundancies across the merged banks.

— Eric Weilbacher