First look: Demolition starts for AT&T’s new billion-dollar Plano campus

One of North Texas’ most high-profile development projects has reached an important initial milestone.

Crews began demolishing the driveway and north parking garage at 5400 Legacy Drive last week, making way for the new billion-dollar-plus headquarters that AT&T plans to build in Plano. By Friday, excavators were picking through concrete rubble.

AT&T and project developer KDC have offered few details about the project and its timeline, but Plano Deputy City Manager Doug McDonald said larger buildings will come down in the near future.

Full demolition could take five to six months, he said. The property was once the headquarters of Electronic Data Systems headquarters, H. Ross Perot Sr.’s information technology company that was founded in the 1960s.

“The parking garages are massive, so it’s going to take them a few weeks to get through those parking garages,” he said.

McDonald said AT&T received its demolition permit, but the company is still going through its site planning process for the 54-acre campus.

The Fortune 50 telecommunications giant is seeking approval from the Plano City Council to build a roughly 280-foot “mini Reunion Tower” that features AT&T’s logo, along with more than 2 million square feet of office space. City Council is expected to vote on the zoning change Tuesday evening.

The rezoning of 1.4 acres at the site is needed because the tower will also function as a communications antenna, project officials told Plano planning commissioners earlier this month.

Preliminary site plans show 2.3 million square feet of  building space, excluding parking garages. The office campus will also include a daycare center, a pedestrian bridge, three-quarters of an acre of public green space and a tower. The southern half of the site will include parking garages. The tallest building, excluding the tower, will be 8 stories. The tower’s height will not exceed 280 feet.

In mid-May, affiliates of Dallas-based NexPoint Development sold the new headquarters site to KDC Legacy Eagle HQ Investments One LLC. The company is affiliated with Dallas developer KDC, the firm overseeing AT&T’s project.

The KDC-affiliated LLC entered into various agreements with AT&T regarding the new headquarters, Collin County records show. Deed records show that AT&T will serve as the developer’s tenant. The terms of the agreement also give AT&T certain protections — including an option to purchase the property at a later date.

JPMorgan Chase is a financial backer of the project. The bank provided KDC a $400 million single-bank loan for the project.

Plano officials granted AT&T $20 million in incentives and a lengthy tax rebate for the project earlier this year. It was the largest incentive package the city has given to a private employer.

As part of the deal, AT&T must spend a minimum of $1.35 billion in construction costs on the project and build a minimum of 2 million square feet of office, amenity and retail space at the site. The company must also eventually employ 10,000 full-time workers at the property and occupy the headquarters for 25 years.

AT&T will receive a 65% property tax rebate on improvements made at the site over 25 years, starting in 2030. The rebate could be extended for an additional decade at 25%, if the company purchases the site.

AT&T announced in January that it was leaving its home in downtown Dallas’ Whitacre Tower to build its global headquarters in Plano. AT&T CEO John Stankey said that the company is targeting partial occupancy for the new headquarters “as early as the second half of 2028.”