The triple-digit temperatures in the Dallas area don't seem to be dampening the spirits of construction workers about to raise beams at the site of what will be Wells Fargo's new $455 million regional hub, the biggest office development underway in Texas.
The two-tower, 850,000-square-foot office campus in Irving, about 14 miles northwest of downtown Dallas, is expected to house at least 4,000 San Francisco-based bank employees when completed in 2025. Dallas-based KDC, the developer of Wells Fargo's campus at 401 W. Las Colinas Blvd. in Las Colinas Urban Center, finished its first concrete pour Wednesday for the massive structure's foundation to allow vertical construction to start.
"Wells Fargo's Las Colinas-Irving campus has hit another significant milestone with its first concrete pour," KDC executives said in a LinkedIn post. It added that the project will "become an integral part of the Las Colinas-Irving skyline."
The work on Wells Fargo's campus comes as the pipeline for new office construction in the United States continues to shrink, with higher interest rates and construction costs weighing on the industry. Only 1.4 million square feet of office construction broke ground across the country in the second quarter, signaling future supply constraints for tenants seeking high-quality space, JLL said in the real estate brokerage's national second-quarter office report.
The LEED platinum campus is expected to be Wells Fargo's first campus to generate more energy than it consumes, with electric vehicle charging stations and native plants with minimal watering requirements and rooftop solar panels. Wells Fargo plans to consolidate 14 offices throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area at the campus.
Other design features include a food hall with cooking stations, a dining hall overlooking Lake Carolyn, a barista-style coffee area, a library with a high-tech workshop space and an employee lounge. The two office towers are expected to include a pedestrian bridge connecting the office space to a separate parking garage with 4,000 vehicle spaces.
The Wells Fargo campus also includes well-being rooms, gyms with remotely led classes and proximity to nearby walking and bicycle trails, stand-up paddleboard rentals, a cycling studio and four golf courses.
Wells Fargo is eligible to receive about $36 million in state and local incentives for the campus, including about $5 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, the state's so-called deal-closing fund, and $31 million from Irving, marking the city's biggest incentive package to date.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the Wells Fargo campus the biggest office project underway in the Lone Star State when he attended a ceremonial groundbreaking in April.
But it hasn't been all clear skies for Wells Fargo, which, like other financial institutions, is increasing its reserves for potential losses as it grapples with exposure to commercial mortgages tied to the struggling office market. The banking giant recently decided to lay off hundreds of workers at a call center in the Portland, Oregon, area in a move reflecting market conditions.
Wells Fargo's decision to move forward with construction in a challenging lending market following the spring banking crisis and uncertain office market confirms the bank's commitment to its future in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and its need for office space in the years ahead. In the past five years, Wells Fargo has added about 1,200 jobs to the region, bringing its total workforce in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to 6,800 employees, with nearly all roles being in technology and risk management.
Wells Fargo could not immediately comment on the project, a bank spokeswoman told CoStar News. The bank has not disclosed the details behind its lender on the new campus. KDC was not available to comment further on the project, a spokeswoman for the developer told CoStar News.
Corporate Hub
Wells Fargo's high-profile project is adjacent to Lake Carolyn in Irving in the Las Colinas Urban Center, the center of business in the city with the largest concentration of office space in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The 12,000-acre Las Colinas is home to about 7,500 businesses with more than 150,000 employees, according to the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber. In all, 11 Fortune 500 companies call Irving home, including Builders FirstSource, Caterpillar, Celanese, Commercial Metals, Darling Ingredients, Fluor, Kimberly-Clarke, McKesson, Nexstar Media Group, Pioneer Natural Resources and Vistra.
Wells Fargo isn't the only financial services firm banking on the Lone Star State. Texas is home to more than 30,000 JPMorgan Chase employees — making it the largest employment center for the bank — surpassing the roughly 27,000 workers employed in New York. Charles Schwab Corp., the nation's largest publicly traded stock brokerage firm, moved its headquarters from San Francisco to the Dallas-Fort Worth region in early 2021. Like other financial services firms, Charles Schwab is scrutinizing costs with plans to save $500 million on layoffs and consolidating its real estate throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs still plans to begin construction on its $480 million, 800,000-square-foot campus in Dallas by the end of the year, a spokeswoman confirmed to CoStar News. Earlier this year, the New York-based global financial services giant trimmed about 100,000 square feet from its proposed Dallas project, which has been offered about $18 million in city incentives.
Last year, workers cleared the tract that once housed a low-rise apartment property just north of downtown Dallas to make way for Goldman Sachs' proposed campus adjacent to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The cleared tract has sat empty and ready for construction since last fall — where it awaits work to get underway.
Hunt Realty Investments is teaming up with developer Hillwood Urban to build the Goldman Sachs campus, which is expected to cost nearly $500 million. Upon the anticipated completion of the campus in 2027, Goldman Sachs expects to employ about 5,000 workers.
For the Record
Corgan is the architect and designer of Wells Fargo's campus. Kimley Horn is the landscape and civil engineer. Austin Commercial is the general contractor.