Tech Corridor Continues to Thrive with Multi-Tenant Facility

907 Security Row, a planned multi-tenant facility, will have 70,000 square feet of raised floor space.

RICHARDSON, TX—The strong technology business presence began in the north Dallas suburb of Richardson in the 1950s. In 1956, Texas Instruments selected the east side of US 75 just north of Interstate 635 for its corporate campus. In 1957, Collins Radio, a well-established electronics company from Cedar Rapids, IA built the first building of what would become a multi-building campus on a 400-acre site north of Texas Instruments near US 75 and Arapaho Road. Both companies attracted a wealth of engineering talent and eventually spawned a number of technology-based enterprises.

The pace accelerated even further in the 1980s with the deregulation of the telecommunications industry. MCI was the first, with a microwave network that relied on the products and technical expertise of Collins Radio (acquired by Rockwell in 1971, which in turn was acquired by Alcatel in 1991). At that time, Nortel, Fujitsu and Ericsson created major operations in Richardson to benefit from the technical expertise and attractive cost of living here.