Fluor HQ Moving to Las Colinas

Koll Development and Hillwood were the short list contenders for the corporate relocation of the Aliso Viejo, CA-based Fluor, which just decided in early May to move to Dallas/Fort Worth. "We did about a month's worth of work every week," Matt Heidelbaugh, director with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. who assisted C&W's senior director Jeff Osborn in Orange County, CA with the local site search.

Fluor's not disclosing the project cost, but did say in its May announcement that the material aspect wouldn't have a bearing on its decision. "It's not going to be overly done, but it's going to be very nicely done," Osborn tells GlobeSt.com. "It will be consistent with a world headquarters for a Fortune 200 company."

Osborn says Fluor looked at existing space, but opted for a build-to-suit and a slight shift in its plan to move the headquarters team by the end of the year. The building will deliver in April 2006. "In the end, Fluor, unlike most publicly held companies, has a preference for owning," he says. "I've been doing this for 20 years, but as corporate headquarters go this is the fastest. This was very quick, but it was a very thorough process." The deal was sweetened with an economic incentive package commensurate with a Fortune 200 corporate relocation, he says. The details of the package weren't available by publication time.

"It's a very aggressive schedule, but one that we are committed to making," says Tobin C. Grove, president of Koll Development. He says Clayco Construction Co. of St. Louis will begin dirt work by month's end on a three-story office building, parking garage and an amenities structure with a cafeteria, fitness center and auditorium. Forum Studio Inc. of St. Louis and Gensler's Dallas office designed the complex.

For Koll to swing the deal, Citigroup carved out a 26-acre parcel from its 137-acre tract along Las Colinas Boulevard. Koll presently is building a second building on the Citigroup campus, which will deliver in early 2006 and take its complex to 700,000 sf. The Fluor buildings will go up at the corner of Patton Drive, being renamed to Fluor Drive, and Las Colinas Boulevard.

Fluor's asked 100 employees to relocate and plans to hire another 100 from the local market. Select corporate functions will remain in Southern California as well as two engineering centers in Aliso Viejo and Long Beach, which employ about 900 workers.

Key to the Las Colinas decision is its proximity to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and executive housing options. The Hillwood site reportedly was beside Fidelity Investments' Westlake campus.