Corporate Consolidation Drives Deals in Dallas-Fort Worth

Late last year, something happened at Fossil Inc. that had never happened before. A few members of its creative team were able to meet with a couple of folks from the finance department. Without scheduling anything in advance. Without getting into their cars. Without crossing a major highway.

That's because, for the first time in its 28-year history, the Richardson, TX-based consumer fashion company has all of its employees under one roof. In March of 2011—leading a trend of corporate consolidations that pervaded the Dallas-Fort Worth real estate market last year—Fossil decided to lease 535,000 square feet in a single office building in Richardson. Previously, its executive and creative teams were in one building on one side of a major highway, and a different building housed its finance and IT functions.