Telecommunications giant AT&T will move its corporate headquarters from downtown Dallas to Plano, according to an email sent Monday to employees.

AT&T CEO John Stankey told employees the selection of 5400 Legacy Drive came after “nearly a year of consideration, deliberation and planning.”

According to a 2022 estimate, AT&T employs nearly 6,000 people at its downtown Dallas headquarters in the 37-story Whitacre Tower.

Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert said the city worked collaboratively to keep AT&T within its city limits.

“But ultimately, this was a decision that came down to AT&T’s desire for a new horizontal location with significant acreage for development,” Tolbert said.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson echoed the sentiment in a joint statement, saying current AT&T leaders “preferred a large horizontal, suburban-style campus rather than the skyscrapers that define our city center.”

“Our city’s unique economic strengths are what attracted AT&T to our urban core in 2008, and Dallas has become a global economic powerhouse since then,” Johnson said in a statement.

Plano Mayor John Muns said the relocation signals a powerful reinvestment in the city’s Legacy business district.

“With surrounding Legacy developments already advancing innovation, the addition of AT&T brings fresh momentum to this iconic area and helps position Legacy for its next generation of success,” Muns said.

The move away from Dallas brings uncertainty to AT&T’s current home, including the Discovery District, which opened in 2021 as a walkable corporate campus with outdoor space and nearby restaurants.

The move away from downtown Dallas brings uncertainty to AT&T’s current home, including the Discovery District, which opened in 2021 as a walkable corporate campus with outdoor space and nearby restaurants.

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno said the City Council and leadership will now work to explore new opportunities “to ensure the core of Dallas remains competitive and welcoming to new headquarters and job creators.”

“While it’s a bruise today, a bruise will disappear over time and we’ll come out stronger at the end,” Moreno told NBC 5.

AT&T says it aims to have the new Plano headquarters partially occupied as early as mid-2028.