Plano leaders heralded another corporate victory Monday after AT&T said it will build its new global headquarters in the city, boosting its status as one of North Texas’ premier business hubs.
Plano council member Rick Horne learned of AT&T’s announcement Monday morning from The Dallas Morning News and credits the city’s educated workforce, business-friendly environment, high quality of life and proximity to key airports for its success at attracting major corporate relocations and Fortune 500 companies.
AT&T’s move, Horne said, is “a continuation of a story” sparked when H. Ross Perot Sr. moved his information technology company Electronic Data Systems to Plano in the 1980s, and companies like retail giant JCPenney followed suit.
“This is not something new,” Horne said, adding, “Plano has had some great success with Toyota [North America] moving here, Liberty Mutual, Capital One, Boeing … Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, all those have come here for a reason.”
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Plano is ushering “a new renaissance” with major employers across diverse sectors, said Ray Perryman, president and CEO of The Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm in Waco.
“There is a lot going on in Plano,” Perryman said in an email. “From the financial sector to biotech, Plano is proactively seeking to continue to emerge as a center for these types of businesses in addition to headquarters or campus operations such as AT&T.”
Securing AT&T will bring jobs, local spending, demand for real estate, tax revenue and “multiplier effects” for the suburb, Perryman said, a “major win.”
AT&T spent months scouring North Texas for office space before landing in Plano.
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“AT&T’s relocation represents a powerful reinvestment in the Legacy business district, building on an extraordinary foundation that has driven growth in Plano and our region for decades,” Plano Mayor John Muns said in a statement. “With surrounding Legacy developments already advancing innovation, the addition of AT&T brings fresh momentum to this iconic area.”
Horne said details about how the city and AT&T coordinated the relocation will come from the mayor’s office in the next couple days.
Dallas developer NexPoint owned 215 acres where AT&T plans to build its new home. The site includes the former EDS headquarters.
NexPoint planned to oversee a 4-million-square-foot development called The Texas Research Quarter on the same property in Plano’s Legacy neighborhood. The space would host labs and manufacturing space for life sciences companies. Last year, Plano council members approved up to $15 million to reimburse NexPoint for the redevelopment.
It’s unclear how AT&T’s arrival will change those plans, and NexPoint declined to comment on the project Monday.
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Kelle Marsalis, president of the Plano Chamber of Commerce, said AT&T’s move to 5400 Legacy Dr. is the result of the city government’s leadership, the suburb’s strong schools and its ability to grow and attract a skilled workforce. She expects the telecom giant’s new headquarters will help the city to further develop this workforce.
“A company like AT&T which is very innovative and very community-focused will bring a lot of … highly skilled jobs to our community,” Marsalis said.
Todd Birenbaum, a Plano resident since 2003 who lives about three miles away from the site of AT&T’s new headquarters, praised the move, even as he understands some of his neighbors may be concerned the development will exacerbate traffic as Plano is nearly built out.
“This is more business coming in, especially for an area that’s been empty for so long,” he said. “It’s great to see Plano being able to bring and attract … new business to utilize existing space, rather than converting that [or] tearing it down and building more apartments.”
Pedestrians walk through AT&T Discovery District past the communications company’s headquarters on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025 in Downtown Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
Plano’s voters have agreed to invest millions of tax dollars in maintaining the city’s aging infrastructure to keep up with fast growth, and the city council voted for the first time in 16 years to raise Plano’s property tax rate last fall.
The news of AT&T’s move has sparked concern about the future of downtown Dallas, which is currently home to the company’s 37-story Whitacre Tower and AT&T’s $100 million Discovery District property. The news of the company’s move also comes as the Dallas Stars eye a new arena in Plano, a move from the team’s current home at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Ted Benavides, former Dallas city manager and a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas doesn’t see AT&T’s move to Plano as a major blow to Dallas’urban core, which attracted financial services company Goldman Sachs to spend $709 million on an office complex near the AAC.
“Everybody’s been heralding the demise of Dallas, and I think it’s way overrated,” Benavides said. “Plano competes and so does Dallas, maybe it had a better argument this time.”
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It remains to be seen whether the move will take AT&T completely out of Dallas proper. The company had nearly 6,000 workers assigned to its downtown offices in 2022. CEO John Stankey said in a statement Monday the company is targeting partial occupancy for the new headquarters “as early as the second half of 2028.”
Horne sees no rivalry between Dallas and Plano.
“Dallas is a great city,” Horne said. “I don’t see us in competition with Dallas, but all the cities are competing with each other for these great corporations.”
Staff Writer Nicholas Wooten contributed to this report.
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