AT&T is so far being welcomed with open arms by Plano officials, notching off one regulatory hurdle to move out of Downtown Dallas.
The Plano Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday unanimously approved a rezoning request from the telecom giant at the former Electronic Data Systems headquarters, where the company wants to relocate its global headquarters, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
The planned redevelopment needs commercial employment zoning, which would provide the property owner greater leeway in redevelopment plans for different portions of the site. Dallas-based NexPoint controls 215 acres that include the former headquarters of Electronic Data Systems, including the nearly 100 acres at the southeast corner of Legacy Drive and Parkwood Boulevard identified for the zoning.
The commission also passed a waiver for the new zoning application to go through, as the suburb north of Dallas currently has a two–year waiting period on the books until February of next year, according to the outlet. The full Plano City Council still needs to vote on the changes.
Restoring the zoning would allow the site at 5400 Legacy Drive in Plano’s Legacy development to be used for the corporate headquarters along with offices, retail, research facilities and light industrial uses. In January, AT&T CEO John Stankey said the move was for office consolidation, saying the Plano site will allow AT&T to “cost effectively consolidate all Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex administrative space,” including major offices in Dallas, Plano and Irving, while creating a purpose-built corporate campus, The Real Deal previously reported.
Stankey targeted the second half of 2028 for workers to begin decamping from the 37-story Whitacre Tower at 208 South Akard Street in Dallas, where its lease runs through 2030. The company relocated its headquarters to Dallas in 2008 after leaving San Antonio.
NexPoint had previously sought another use for the Plano site before AT&T’s interest, as the firm secured zoning for a life sciences and research campus in 2023, according to the publication. That site plan included a utility plant, infrastructure and parking upgrades as well as a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
NexPoint might be looking for a way to retain some of the life sciences on the rest of the site not contained in this round of zoning. Along with the old EDS headquarters, which was the information technology company founded by Ross Perot, a source told the outlet that the firm might try to attract life sciences firms to future satellite buildings within the area.
— Eric Weilbacher
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