'At All Costs': Dallas Fights To Keep AT&T HQ In City
Dallas officials are working to keep AT&T from moving to a suburb, as the city could lose $62M in annual property tax revenue should the telecommunications behemoth relocate.
After AT&T toured office sites in some of the Metroplex’s suburbs, Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert told the Dallas Economic Development Corp. that officials are determined to keep the company in the city. A potential move by AT&T to a suburb could tank Dallas property values by 30% and lead to the loss of city revenue, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
“We've got to make sure, at all costs, they stay in the city of Dallas,” Dallas EDC Board Chairman Gilbert Gerst said. “We'd love for them to stay downtown, but hopefully in the city of Dallas.”
AT&T has had its headquarters in Downtown Dallas since 2008 and has a lease at Whitacre Tower through 2030, according to WFAA. However, company officials toured sites such as the 107-acre The Park at Legacy corporate campus in Plano in recent weeks.
Steve Triolet, senior vice president of research and market forecasting at Partners, told the DBJ that AT&T is seeking around 1M SF of office space in cities such as Irving, Plano and Richardson.
Reasons for the wandering eye include concerns about safety at the downtown location and a desire to shorten commutes, the DBJ reported.
In January, AT&T required all office employees to return in person five days a week.
When reached for comment on AT&T’s interest in sites outside of Dallas, a company spokesperson told Bisnow they “do not comment on rumors.”
Tolbert said she and Dallas EDC CEO Linda McMahon heard about challenges the company faces when they spoke with AT&T CEO John Stankey at a business retention meeting. Tolbert didn’t mention any specific concerns expressed by Stankey but said she offered to “get to work” because she considers herself “a problem-solver.”
Dallas City Council Member Paul Ridley told WFAA that the city is engaged in “delicate negotiations” with AT&T to keep the company’s headquarters long-term.
AT&T already has a footprint in Richardson, where it signed a 12-year lease in May to expand and relocate its call center across the street from an existing campus.
The lease with Provident Realty Advisors was for approximately 186K SF across seven floors of the Lakeside Boulevard Tower at 2221 Lakeside Blvd. The new space will house call center employees moving from AT&T’s Lakeside Campus at 2270 Lakeside Blvd.
“We have a strong history in the city and this opportunity strategically aligns with our focus on creating modern workspaces where our employees can thrive, innovate and deliver solutions that connect people to greater possibility,” AT&T Head of Global Real Estate Michael Ford said in a statement to Bisnow at the time.
