Tech Firm Office Relocation Plan Will Bring 1,000 Jobs to Dallas Area
A San Diego tech firm, Omnitracs, is planning on relocating to Dallas, Texas. The move, which could bring 1,000 jobs to the city, would also save a skyscraper that has had trouble, like many buildings in the area, attracting and retaining large commercial companies. The building in question is the KPMG Centre, and Omnitracs is looking to rent as much as 300,000 square feet.
This would make the largest out-of-state move since Comerica Bank moved to Dallas back in 2006. John Crawford, CEO and president of Downtown Dallas, a business district advocacy group, notes that “One of the most important things about this deal is its an out-of-state relocation…this is a huge plus in terms of what they will be bringing into the city.”
According to Dallas News, the office lease would be “a big economic boost for the property.” In recent years, there has been more effort to attract big business back into Dallas’s financial district. Higher rent prices have encouraged many businesses to leave the city center and move outward, creating lease voids throughout the downtown area. In the past year, though, many large buildings have found major tenants in part thanks to public improvement projects worth billions of dollars that have helped rejuvenate the downtown area.
The Omnitracs office relocation project plan is tied to World Class Capital Group’s expected acquisition of KPMG, which was bought up by lenders after a 2012 foreclosure. WCCG is expected to sign the papers on the building in the upcoming week, according to Biz Journals. The move would be an important one for the building, especially because the current major tenant, which occupies 70% of the building, has a lease expiring in 2015.
Dallas and other cities like it are currently experiencing an overall influx of corporate relocations, as offices seek states where business tax breaks are easier to come by. Cities like New York have fallen out of favor for relocation as it makes employee retention difficult, and rent prices skyrocket; the New York Times details how 73% of administrators reported that transferring to New York City, for example, was the least popular option for employees, who have no desire to move from large homes to small apartments.
In all likelihood, the Omnitracs move is just one of the first of many moves companies make out of the California area, where rent prices and the cost of business is becoming too high for many businesses to justify.
Sources:
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/02/12/california-logistics-tech-firm-eyeing-dallas.html
