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AT&T Breaks Ground on $1.3 Billion Plano Campus, Consolidating 10,000 Workers at Former EDS Site
AT&T has begun construction on a 54-acre, $1.3 billion headquarters in Plano that will hold up to 10,000 employees and consolidate its scattered Metroplex offices. The first fiber connection was installed at the groundbreaking, with partial occupancy targeted for late 2028.
PLANO â AT&T formally broke ground Thursday morning on a $1.3 billion corporate campus here, a project the telecommunications giant says will let it gather thousands of employees from offices scattered across the Dallas-Fort Worth area under one roof.
The 54-acre site on Legacy Drive was once home to Electronic Data Systems, whose buildings were demolished in an implosion earlier this year. The new campus is designed to accommodate as many as 10,000 workers.
Company and local officials marked the start of construction by installing the site's first fiber connection, a symbolic nod to the company's core business.
AT&T has said it intends to open at least part of the campus in the second half of 2028. State records indicate construction on some buildings is scheduled to begin Dec. 1 and wrap up by March 2029.
The project represents one of the largest corporate construction investments in Collin County in recent years and is expected to reshape the Legacy corridor, a stretch already dense with corporate offices, retail and housing. For Plano, the arrival of a single employer at that scale carries implications for traffic, housing demand and the city's tax base.
The decision to consolidate also means employees who currently work at other AT&T locations around the Metroplex will eventually be relocated to Plano, though the company has not detailed a timeline for those moves.
The groundbreaking follows the demolition of the old EDS campus, a site with its own place in North Texas business history. EDS, founded by Ross Perot, was once among the region's most prominent technology employers before its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard.
AT&T's move comes as large employers continue to weigh how much office space they need in a post-pandemic era marked by hybrid work. The company's choice to build for 10,000 workers signals a long-term bet on in-person collaboration at a time when some firms have scaled back their footprints.