In a major corporate realignment, American telecommunications behemoth AT&T has declared its plan to move its global headquarters from Downtown Dallas to a brand-new corporate campus in Plano, Texas. The transition is scheduled to commence in the second half of 2028, concluding the company's nearly two-decade-long tenure in its iconic Dallas skyscraper, which has housed its leadership since 2008.
Consolidation into a Modern Campus
The new nerve centre will be situated on a sprawling 54-acre site at 5400 Legacy Drive in Plano. This strategic move is designed to bring together three of AT&T's existing administrative locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex—specifically in downtown Dallas, Plano, and Irving—into a single, unified campus. According to reports from Business Insider, a company spokesperson highlighted that the forthcoming facilities will be purpose-built to foster "collaboration, innovation, and engagement."
A significant driver behind this consolidation is to tackle persistent issues of inadequate workspace and parking shortages. These challenges became more pronounced after AT&T reinstated mandatory office attendance for its workforce, underscoring the need for a more capacious and functional work environment.
Employee Experience at the Core
In a detailed memo circulated to employees, AT&T's Chief Executive Officer, John Stankey, elucidated the rationale behind this monumental decision. He stated that the move is fundamentally an investment aimed at placing the employee experience at the heart of the company's workspace strategy.
Stankey pointed to feedback gathered from last year's employee engagement survey, where staff clearly expressed their expectations for professional, well-maintained, and functional workspaces. "This is an investment intended to put the employee experience at the center of our workspace," Stankey wrote, affirming the company's commitment to acting on this feedback.
A Multi-Year Transformation
The project marks the beginning of a multi-year transformation. The plan involves demolishing the old structures on the Plano site and constructing a modern campus from the ground up. Partial occupancy of the new global headquarters is targeted for late 2028.
Stankey also connected this move to AT&T's broader strategy of upgrading its workspaces nationwide, mentioning similar investments in locations like Atlanta, Georgia; Chantilly, Virginia; and Bedminster, New Jersey. He assured employees that more detailed information and execution plans would be shared in a structured manner by the planning team in the coming spring.
While acknowledging the natural curiosity and questions such an announcement triggers, the CEO urged patience and advised employees to disregard external speculation. He emphasized that the core focus for the broader team should remain on delivering for customers daily as the dedicated project team works to bring the new headquarters to life on schedule and within budget.
