When AT&T announced earlier this week it would build its new global headquarters in Plano, leaders were excited but not surprised, given the Collin County city’s track record of attracting corporations to expand and relocate.
Since the 1980s, when Ross Perot first set eyes on Plano for information technology company Electronic Data Systems, the city has maintained its status as a corporate hub in Dallas-Fort Worth, routinely attracting businesses from Dallas, California and cities across the globe.
Now AT&T is looking to build its new headquarters at the former EDS campus site, and the Dallas Stars are reportedly eyeing the city for a move, too.
“My only question to AT&T is, what took them so long?” said Harry LaRosiliere, Plano’s former mayor, who led the city when Toyota announced it would move its North American headquarters from California.
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Plano Council Member Rick Horne said the city’s educated workforce, business-friendly environment, high quality of life and proximity to key airports make it attractive to companies like AT&T.
“This is not something new,” Horne said. “This is a continuation of a story.”
Here’s a timeline of some of the city’s most significant announcements of corporate relocations and expansions in Plano. This incomplete list, compiled from city documents and data, shows the approximate year companies started betting on their future in Collin County.
1980-1999
- 1985: EDS moved to the Legacy business park. Frito-Lay followed, and today, PepsiCo Foods North America employs nearly 4,000 people in Plano.
- 1987: JCPenney announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from New York. After moving out during the pandemic, JCPenney moved offices back to the site in 2023 and employs about 2,000 people in the city.
- 1998: Bank of America’s regional operation, formerly Countrywide, announced plans to expand its campus.
- 1999: Cinemark Holdings announced plans to move from Dallas. The movie theater chain operator, a Fortune 1000 company, employs nearly 400 people in Plano.
Rubenstein Partners bought the Pepsico campus in Plano’s Legacy business park.
KDC
2000-2005
- 2000: Business software company Intuit announced plans for a regional operation at a 165,000-square-foot building.
- 2000: Beal Bank announced plans for a move from Dallas to a 285,000-square-foot building, and the banking headquarters employs about 300 people in the city today.
- 2001: Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson North America announced plans for a headquarters and now employs more than 3,300 people in Plano.
- 2005: Capital One Finance announced plans to grow and later expanded its campus for its regional operation in 2012 and in 2015. The company employs more than 5,600 people in Plano.
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2006-2010
- 2007: Upbound Group, parent company of Rent-A-Center and a Fortune 1000 company, moved operations and now employs 250 people in the city.
- 2009: Health services company Cigna announced a new regional operation.
- 2009: Raising Cane’s announced it would move its headquarters, and now employs about 650 people. The restaurant chain is planning to move its offices to a new 400,000-square-foot location in part of the former EDS campus late this year and add hundreds of jobs at the site.
- 2009: Pizza Hut announced a move from Addison and now employs nearly 700 people in the city. Both KFC & Pizza Hut are headquartered in Collin County. Parent company Yum! Brands announced last year it would relocate some workers from Kentucky to Plano. Yum China Holdings is one of several Fortune 1000 companies in the city.
- 2010: Atmos Energy announced it would open a high-tech, $12.9 billion regional training center.
This 1992 aerial photo of far west Plano shows the newly built EDS headquarters at Legacy Business Park, surrounded by farmland. By 2012, an estimated 50,000 people a day were working, living and shopping in the Legacy development.
2011-2015
- 2012: Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company, has a significant regional operation, expanding several times with plans to employ over 1,500 people in the city by 2031.
- 2012: Software firm Tyler Technologies announced it would trade its North Dallas headquarters for a new corporate campus in Plano.
- 2012: The formerly Dallas-based auto supplier Winzer announced it would move its headquarters.
- 2013: USAA purchased the former AT&T campus in Legacy business park to house its new IT operation. The firm has expanded its presence several times and last November, the financial institution opened a new building that is expected to bring the campus’ total employment to 3,600 people.
- 2013: FedEx Office announced a new headquarters and today employs nearly 1,400 people in the city.
- 2014: Toyota Motor North America announced it would move its headquarters from California to a 2.1 million-square-foot campus, and now employs nearly 5,000 people in the city.
- 2015: Aligned Data announced a data center and now employs around 300 people in Plano.
- 2015: Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance announced it would build a campus for a regional operation in Plano at a 1 million-square-foot campus that now employs over 2,000 people.
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2016-2020
- 2016: JPMorgan Chase announced it would establish a regional operation at a 1 million-square-foot campus at Legacy West, which expanded in 2019, and now employs more than 11,000 people.
- 2017: NTT DATA Services announced it would move into its North American headquarters in Plano. The division of a Japan-based business and IT services provider announced plans to move into the Legacy business park and now employs around 2,000 people.
- 2017: Boeing announced it was moving the headquarters for its new global services division to the Legacy West project, joining Toyota, Liberty Mutual Insurance, JPMorgan Chase and FedEx Office.
- 2018: Samsung Electronics America announced it would consolidate workers in Plano and has since expanded, now employing more than 1,700 people.
- 2019: Dallas-based tax services firm Ryan announced plans to move employees to a new headquarters in the Legacy West development and now employs around 400 people in the city.
- 2019: Shutterfly announced it would expand a regional operation in Plano.
Large Plano, Texas homes fill a neighborhood near Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (left) and Legacy West (right), June 7, 2023.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
2021- Today
- 2022: Aerospace and defense company Raytheon invested in a regional operation in Plano.
- 2022: SK Signet America, a South Korean electronic vehicle infrastructure manufacturer, announced plans for a building in the city.
- 2023: Fisher Investments announced it would relocate its corporate headquarters from Washington to Texas at 6500 International Parkway. The firm employs 1,700 in the city.
- 2024: Assa Abloy Global Solutions, a security technology company, announced it would consolidate and relocate its North American headquarters to Plano and add around 350 employees over the next ten years. The company is one of several Swedish businesses the city has worked to attract and retain to Collin County.
- 2026: AT&T announced it will build its new global headquarters in Plano, a move from downtown Dallas. The telecommunications giant plans to build its new home on the site that includes the former EDS headquarters.
Email tips on all things Collin County to lilly.kersh@dallasnews.com.
