Telecom giant AT&T is one step closer towards its planned Plano headquarters.
Plano’s planning and zoning commission recommended approval for a rezoning request of more than 90 acres at the intersection of Parkwood Boulevard and Legacy Drive during its Monday meeting.
Plano City Council still has to sign off on the change.
The site includes part of the former Electronic Data Systems campus. AT&T announced plans last month to build its new headquarters on 54 acres at 5400 Legacy Drive. The firm has called downtown Dallas home since 2008.
The rezoning gives AT&T more flexibility for its planned corporate campus. The site will revert to Commercial Employment zoning from Planned Development 62 Commercial Employment zoning, according to city documents.
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The rezoning request was made by TRQ Plano LLC., a group affiliated with Dallas developer NexPoint. The firm bought the former EDS campus in 2018.
In addition to the rezoning, planning commissioners recommended the two-year waiting period for zoning cases at the more than 90 acre site be waived.
City documents state the site was initially rezoned as part of NexPoint’s planned Texas Research Quarter, a life-sciences, mixed-use development that was to include laboratory, scientific research, pharmaceutical, medicinal, manufacturing, residential, hotel, retail and additional uses.
The former EDS campus will no longer be part of the Texas Research Quarter, city documents say.
However, NexPoint owns more than 100 acres nearby that could be rezoned for future life science uses, according to the firm’s website.
It’s unclear what sort of presence AT&T will have in downtown Dallas once the Plano headquarters fully opens.
AT&T CEO John Stankey said the firm is targeting partial occupancy for the new Plano headquarters “as early as the second half of 2028.”
AT&T had nearly 6,000 workers assigned to its downtown offices in 2022. The Dallas Economic Development Corp. estimates AT&T has nearly 10,700 employees in the city of Dallas.
Its lease at the 37-story Whitacre Tower at 208 South Akard St. runs through Dec. 31, 2031, AT&T said. The tower is owned by Pacific Elm Properties and Dundon Capital Partners.
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