AT&T may be considering moving its headquarters from downtown Dallas to the northern suburbs, according to recent reports. While the company has not made any official statements about its real estate plans, executives have reportedly been seen touring office properties in suburban locations.
One site under consideration is The Park at Legacy in Plano, a 1.8 million-square-foot campus currently housing JCPenney’s headquarters. The property is being redeveloped by Capital Commercial Investments and Streetlights Residential into a mixed-use development that will include luxury apartments, offices, hotels, retail space, dog parks, sports courts, and walking trails around a pond. It remains unclear if AT&T’s interest in the site is for additional office space or a potential relocation of its global headquarters.
AT&T currently holds a lease for 1.1 million square feet at Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas through 2030. The company has operated out of this location since moving from San Antonio in 2008.
Recent activity suggests AT&T is focusing on expanding its presence in suburban Dallas. In May, the company signed a 12-year lease for 186,000 square feet at Lakeside Boulevard Tower in Richardson. This move will allow AT&T to consolidate several regional sites and increase its local workforce from about 400 to as many as 1,400 employees at the new location.
The telecom firm also recently sold an unoccupied four-story office building at Pinnacle Park in West Dallas that was previously used for customer-service operations.
AT&T’s need for more office space may be connected to its return-to-office policy that began in January. The company employs roughly 150,000 people nationwide and is led by CEO John Stankey.
Doug Agarwal, founder and president of Capital Commercial Investments—the owner of The Park at Legacy—declined to comment specifically on AT&T’s interest but noted: “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 for The Park at Legacy include four new office buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet and two apartment towers with up to 750 units developed with StreetLights Residential. There are also plans for hotels and retail amenities within the complex.
