Developer Behind AT&T's New Texas Headquarters Seeks $3.5 Billion in Debt

The developer building AT&T's new global headquarters in Plano, Texas, is seeking to raise about $3.5 billion in debt to finance construction of the sprawling corporate campus. Dallas-based KDC, the firm behind the project, is using a niche structure known as credit tenant lease financing, which lets it borrow against the future lease payments AT&T has committed to make once the buildings are complete.

A long-dated bet on AT&T's lease

CGA Capital and CBRE are arranging the debt, which is expected to carry a weighted-average life of 18.7 years, reflecting the length of AT&T's lease commitment rather than a typical construction loan's shorter horizon. The financing structure effectively treats AT&T's creditworthiness as the collateral, a common approach for single-tenant corporate campuses built on long leases.

The multi-building campus is expected to replace AT&T's longtime Dallas headquarters, consolidating the company's presence in the Plano area. State filings have indicated construction could begin before the end of the year, and the project follows AT&T's sale of its former downtown Dallas headquarters site to a developer-backed group as part of the broader relocation.