AT&T may be considering relocating its headquarters from downtown Dallas to the northern suburbs, according to recent reports. While the company has not confirmed any plans or commented on what some have called an “open secret,” executives have reportedly been seen touring office properties outside of downtown, as reported by the Dallas Business Journal.
One site under consideration is The Park at Legacy in Plano, a 1.8 million-square-foot campus at 6501 Legacy Drive that currently serves as JCPenney’s headquarters. The property is owned by Capital Commercial Investments and Streetlights Residential, who are redeveloping the 107-acre site into a mixed-use development with luxury apartments, office buildings, hotels, and retail space. It remains unclear if AT&T’s interest is for additional office space or a potential relocation of its global headquarters.
AT&T currently leases 1.1 million square feet at Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas. The lease runs through 2030. The company moved its headquarters there in 2008 after leaving San Antonio.
In May, AT&T signed a new 12-year lease for 186,000 square feet at Lakeside Boulevard Tower in Richardson. This move was one of the largest expansions recently in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and will consolidate several regional sites into one location at 2221 Lakeside Boulevard. The company plans to grow its local headcount in Richardson from about 400 employees to as many as 1,400 over seven floors dedicated to call center operations.
Additionally, AT&T sold an unoccupied office building of about 206,000 square feet at Pinnacle Park in West Dallas. This four-story property had previously housed customer service operations.
The return-to-office mandate introduced by CEO John Stankey earlier this year could be influencing these moves as well; AT&T employs roughly 150,000 people nationwide.
Doug Agarwal, founder and president of Capital Commercial Investments — which owns The Park at Legacy — declined to comment specifically on whether AT&T was considering moving there but stated: “The complex is one of the largest office properties in the Metroplex and has in recent months attracted interest from large corporate tenants.”
Plans for redevelopment at The Park at Legacy include four new office buildings totaling about 1.2 million square feet and two apartment towers offering up to 750 luxury units. There will also be hotels with approximately 425 rooms and retail spaces totaling around 20,000 square feet alongside amenities such as dog parks and sports courts surrounding a pond with walking trails.
