- Frontier Communications announced that it will be moving its headquarters from Connecticut to Dallas.
- There have been quite a lot of companies that have moved its headquarters and/or operations to Texas in the last few years.
- This influx is a boon for Texas but also brings with it some demands.
I write about Austin a fair amount in this blog. And I reckon that’s natural – I do live here. But I also travel to Dallas every month and, at Bukowski Law Firm we practice all over the state. So while I live in Austin, Texas is my home.
And this week there was some good news up in Dallas. Another large corporation announced it is moving its headquarters to Dallas. And if it seems like this is a common theme for not just Dallas but all of Texas, well, it is. Texas has been very fortunate to be the destination of many corporate relocations in the past few years. And that is, obviously, great for our State. So that’s what we are going to talk about this week.
Frontier is Moving its Headquarters to Dallas
Frontier Communications announced that is moving its headquarters from Norwalk, Connecticut to Dallas. In doing so, it hopes to secure at least 3,000 jobs in the area in the next ten years. Frontier’s CEO Nick Jeffery said that the reasons for the move were that there are lots of good, talented employees in the DFW area, DFW has a fast growing and diverse economy, and its an important fiber market for the company.
Obviously this is excellent news for Dallas. Frontier will provide good paying jobs and will help boost the local economy.
And, of course, Frontier is not the only company that has made this move in recent years. DFW and Texas as a whole have been the preferred location for many companies who have recently moved. Indeed, in recent years, among others, Thermonix, Landsea Homes Corp, Caterpillar, Comerica, and Fluor have all moved to DFW. And of course, Google, Apple, Tesla, and Oracle (among others) have made big shifts to the Austin area.
In general, it appears that companies are moving to Texas for multiple reasons. But the one that cannot be overlooked is that Texas has a very business friendly environment. While it may not always feel this way in Austin, there are a lot fewer restrictions and red tape that companies need to wade through than there are in other states. And, of course, Texas generally has fairly low taxes – not only for companies but also the people who run the companies.
And finally, Texas has a robust and educated workforce. There are a lot of universities in Texas. And that leads to a large skilled workforce that can help employers who are based here.
What Does this Growth Mean for the Future?
As I wrote above, all this movement to Texas is undoubtedly good news. Having new people and jobs is a great boost to the economy. So what does all of that mean for commercial real estate?
As I have discussed in this blog previously, there is a danger looming on the commercial real estate horizon. Especially in the office space industry. But maybe, as more people and companies move to our State, we can grow out of the danger. While occupancy for individual companies may be declining, if there are more companies here, then the demand could increase.
This growth also means, of course, that there is an ever-increasing demand for housing. Its no secret that Texas – especially Austin – has an affordability problem. And if we do not continue to build more housing, the influx of new people is just going to make housing even more unaffordable.
And finally, we must keep up with the infrastructure. More people means more demand for public transportation, roads, energy, and airports. Our communities must be very aware of these needs and continue to make advancements to meet the needs of the new citizens.
Ultimately, we want all of the companies. Bring your jobs and your people to Texas. But just know that this will require us to meet the increasing demand those new people bring with them.
