At a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday, about 100 attendees watched as a Toyota Tundra truck moved the first shovels of dirt for the Japanese automaker’s $350 million North American headquarters in West Plano.
The relocation of Toyota Motor Corp.’s $350 million headquarters to Plano from Southern California was North Texas’ biggest corporate relocation of 2014. By the time construction is complete in late 2016 or early 2017, some 4,000 jobs will have been created at or moved to the 100-acre campus, including transfers from California, New York, and other states. Plus, for every one of the jobs Toyota brings to Plano, four more jobs will be created.
That’s a colossal business opportunity for Collin County realtors, who are getting ready to be a part of finding homes for those who need it. The company’s 1 million-square-foot campus is located off the Sam Rayburn Tollway and Legacy Drive in Plano, and many of the corporate employees will want to live close to that area.
“We’re all gearing up for it and we are ready to take them on, whether they’re going into Plano or Uptown,” said David Maez, broker and co-owner at VIVO Realty. “Another thing we’re going to see is all the corporations that do business with Toyota moving to the area. You’ll be adding all those other jobs and people to the area.” Jump to read more!
Maez laid out his perspective on where he thinks those home sales will happen.
“For those in senior level management, a lot are going to want to stay in Plano, and the city is not built out—there is a lot of new construction, especially further up north,” he said. “I think you are going to see inventory going very fast not only in Plano, but also in Frisco and maybe further north than that.”
But for those who want to live even closer, Maez points to more established neighborhoods close to the campus.
“There are a lot of older homes on big lots in parts of central-west Plano, which is a great location, and you may see a lot of those houses being renovated and redone,” he said. “I think they will ask themselves, ‘Why not renovate a house and make it exactly how I want it?’”
Plano’s mayor Harry LaRosiliere told the crowd at the groundbreaking, “It brings the spotlight to our community, but it’s really the quality of life in Plano that’s attracting the companies like this.”
Jim Lentz, Toyota North America’s chief executive officer, has said he expects about 300 employees to move to this area this year.
“The support and encouragement we’ve received from the community, civic leaders, business partners and nearby corporations has been nothing short of tremendous,” said Lentz. “It’s clear this is the right place to begin the next chapter of Toyota’s history in North America.”
The Toyota campus is part of a new business hub in Plano, the Legacy Business Park area, in which over 100 companies employ nearly 100,000 people.
Shops at Legacy developer Fehmi Karahan started work last year on the Legacy West project on the southwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and State Highway 121 (along with KDC and Columbus Realty). The 240-acre project will be a mixed-use development, including corporate office space, retail space, a luxury hotel, and apartments. The area will also be home to the 265,000-square-foot headquarters of FedEx Office, and construction will begin soon.
