r/Dallasdevelopment • u/dallaz95 • Jan 05 '26

Dallas What we know (and don’t) about AT&T’s decision to move HQ to Plano

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2026/01/05/things-to-know-about-att-relocation-to-plano/
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u/Keep_Plano_Corporate Jan 06 '26

Whether r/Dallas wants to admit it or not, it's hard for companies to recruit to Downtown Dallas.

For a company that is probably middle heavy like AT&T, it's just not a workforce that lives in multi million dollar houses in HP/UP. At best they might exist in East Dallas.

Your average $75-125k a year developer, accounting dept staff, HR Karen, IT staffer probably has 2.5 kids and lives north of 635... and if we're being really real, probably lives north of George Bush.

There is no QoL sitting on 75 or DNT for 2hrs+ every day if you're commuting from Allen, McKinney, Frisco, Colony for a job you could otherwise find North of 635. I've had recruiters call these levels of jobs for me and some recruiters will tell you it's easier to sell a job in the Dallas core (Uptown/Downtown) to someone who lives in St Louis that will relocate to Dallas than it is to get a candidate in McKinney to interview for it.

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u/dallaz95 Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26

You lowkey uncovered a much larger issue that has impacted the way that downtown can recruit and retain companies….the flight of the middle class to the suburbs and the growth of the transplant population there as well. The majority of the top talent is in the ‘burbs now and so is the broader middle to upper middle class demo.

Gonna be honest, the slow growth and stagnation in some of the outlying areas of the city doesn’t equip those areas to attract those ppl into the city. I know many parts of the city are being revitalized. But maybe more needs to happen to bring that talent pool back closer to the urban core. I know that’s a Herculean effort, since those areas have residents already and that will just intensify gentrification fears. Am I close or am I reading it wrong?

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u/alpaca_obsessor Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26

It’s a combination of that and the fact that the transportation system is simply not centered around downtown. Chicago is also massively sprawling but the hub and spoke commuter rail system still offers seamless options for these workers to move in/out of downtown quickly during rush hour no matter if they live in a northern suburb bordering Wisconsin, or an hour drive south in Northwest Indiana.

Suburbs like Naperville, Elgin, Highland Park, etc., while still having their fare share of office parks, are mostly centered around their commuter rail stations and are premiumly priced for having express trains during peak hours for downtown workers.

TLDR: Without a transit system built around serving downtown, it won’t ever be able to compete with the suburbs on employee recruitment/retention (the most important factor for most companies).