AT&T’s planned $1.35 billion-plus global headquarters in Plano is reaching another major milestone Monday, as the massive project moves toward a final site-plan decision that could help clear the way for construction.
The Plano Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled to consider the headquarters project on September 21. The action comes after demolition cleared the former Electronic Data Systems headquarters from the Legacy Drive property and months after Plano approved preliminary plans for the sprawling corporate campus.
The project is the latest development in a corporate relocation that The Dallas Express has followed for more than a year, beginning when questions first emerged about whether one of downtown Dallas’ most prominent corporate anchors intended to remain in the city.
$1.35 Billion Commitment To Plano
AT&T has committed to occupying at least 2 million square feet of office, amenity and retail space at 5400 Legacy Drive and using the property for its global headquarters operations, according to a City of Plano economic development agreement approved in February.
The agreement requires a minimum of $1.35 billion in fair-market-value real-property improvements at the site.
Plano separately approved a $20 million economic development incentive agreement under which AT&T agreed to construct or cause construction of at least 2 million square feet and transfer, retain or create up to 10,000 full-time job equivalents by December 31, 2039. The city agreement spells out those employment and construction commitments.
Preliminary plans approved earlier this year show a multi-building campus totaling roughly 2.3 million square feet, including office buildings, parking structures, landscaped areas and other amenities.
Plano also approved zoning allowing a large sculptural communications structure on part of the property, with an authorized maximum height of 280 feet.
DX Tracked AT&T’s Possible Dallas Exit Before It Was Official
The Plano project represents the culmination of a story The Dallas Express began following well before AT&T publicly confirmed it would leave downtown Dallas.
In August 2025, DX reported that AT&T had been looking at large suburban office properties as questions emerged about the future of its longtime headquarters at Whitacre Tower.
By September, 2025, The Dallas Express reported that AT&T had declined to affirm that it planned to remain downtown, even as its Whitacre Tower lease approached its 2030 expiration.
DX continued pressing the company for answers.
A subsequent Dallas Express report examined whether public-safety and quality-of-life concerns downtown could factor into AT&T’s deliberations. At the time, AT&T declined to connect its real-estate decisions to crime and said it did not comment on “rumors and speculation.”
In October, 2025, DX noted parallels with AT&T’s 2008 headquarters move from San Antonio to Dallas, when local leaders in San Antonio said they were caught off guard by the decision. That report documented AT&T’s continued refusal at the time to clarify its Dallas plans.
As late as December, 2025, AT&T still had not answered DX questions about whether it had decided to leave downtown Dallas.
From Rumors To Reality
That uncertainty ended in January, 2026.
AT&T confirmed that it would move its global headquarters operations from downtown Dallas to the Plano property, consolidating administrative operations currently spread among Dallas, Plano and Irving.
As The Dallas Express reported when the move became official, AT&T CEO John Stankey told employees that the company expected to begin partial occupancy of the new campus during the second half of 2028.
Dallas officials characterized the decision as reflecting AT&T’s preference for a more horizontal, campus-style working environment.
However, subsequent records obtained by DX added new context to the months preceding the decision.
Emails Revealed Earlier Downtown Concerns
In March, The Dallas Express reported on emails obtained through an open-records request showing Stankey had raised concerns about crime and governance with Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert.
The correspondence dated to 2025, months before AT&T publicly announced the Plano relocation.
The records establish that Stankey discussed public safety and governance concerns with city leadership. They do not, by themselves, establish that those concerns caused AT&T to move its headquarters, and AT&T has not publicly identified crime as the sole or determining reason for the relocation.
The distinction is significant because the headquarters departure comes during a broader debate over downtown Dallas’ competitiveness, public safety, homelessness and ability to retain major employers.
Former EDS Headquarters Comes Down
The physical transformation of AT&T’s future home became unmistakable last month.
On August 9, crews imploded the former Electronic Data Systems headquarters at the property near Legacy Drive and Parkwood Boulevard.
The Dallas Express reported that the demolition generated a boom heard miles away, including reports from residents as far north as Frisco.
The demolition erased one of Plano’s best-known corporate landmarks while clearing the property for its next chapter.
EDS, founded by Texas businessman Ross Perot, helped make the Legacy corridor synonymous with major corporate campuses decades before Plano became the headquarters destination it is today.
Now AT&T is preparing to place its own stamp on the property.
Another Step Toward 2028
Monday’s consideration does not mean AT&T employees will immediately begin moving from Dallas to Plano.
The company has targeted the second half of 2028 for initial occupancy, and significant construction remains ahead.
But approval of the final site plan would represent another concrete step in a relocation that went from speculation, to repeated questions from DX to confirmation, demolition and now preparations for construction.
For downtown Dallas, it marks the continuing countdown toward the departure of a corporate headquarters that has occupied Whitacre Tower since AT&T moved its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas in 2008.
For Plano, the same move promises at least $1.35 billion in property improvements, millions of square feet of development and the eventual presence of one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.
And on Monday, the transformation of the former EDS campus into AT&T’s next global headquarters moves another step closer to becoming reality.
Provided by Dallas Express
