Vertex Locates U.S. HQ in Dallas After Acquiring Area Firm

With a cost of doing business below the national average in the Dallas area combined with the recent acquisition of a Dallas firm, global outsourcing firm Vertex Outsourcing plans to move its new U.S. corporate headquarters to the Dallas suburb of Richardson in October. The firm leased 37,300 square feet of office space in Richardson Commons (pictured) and plans to move about 220 employees into this location. The move follows Vertex’s July 29 acquisition of Alliance Data Systems Corp., acquiring that company’s utility services component. which provides billing systems, professional services and process outsourcing to utilities in the United States and Canada. The addition of Alliance Data’s utility services to Vertex’s existing utilities business resulted in a service provider with 2,500 utilities professionals in 18 centers in the U.S. and Canada. The new Vertex utilities organization will serve more than 70 electric, gas, water and retail energy providers. Corporations’ growth is the main cause of optimism in the Metroplex, according to Forbes magazine. And recent business growth in Texas is due to cheap land, weaker unions, no state income tax and the ease of receiving tax breaks, according to Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Office Market Trends report for Dallas/Fort Worth for the second quarter. However, the state’s cost of doing business is just below the national average, due to higher local electric bills. The true source of business growth lies within the sustained population growth, which has averaged 180,000 residents each year since the year 2000 due to migration and higher birth rates. Newer companies lead to tech startups, service companies and medical centers. More college graduates are moving to North Texas due to the stronger local economy and additional opportunities for employment, according to the report. Texas recently passed New York’s 55 Fortune 500 companies with 58, the most in the nation. Texas remains number one on the Fortune 1,000 list with 113 companies, with 103 in California, and 93 in New York. Forbes predicts that the state of Texas will add approximately 2 million more residents over the next five years, according to the report. Lease negotiations were handled by Susan Arledge and Jeff Pappas of Arledge Partners Real Estate Group, representing Vertex, and Rodney Helm of CAPSTAR Commercial, representing the owners of Richardson Commons, Westmount Realty Capital, Baker Equity Holdings L.L.C. and Pegasus Ablon Properties. Richardson Commons is a 200,000-square-foot office complex situated in a campus setting in the heart of Richardson. In 2008, the ownership completed more than $1 million in capital improvements to the property. Vertex was founded in 1996 as a subsidiary of British utilities provider United Utilities Plc. Vertex employs some 9,000 people in the U.K., U.S., Canada and India, serving clients in utilities, financial services, retail, telecommunications, travel and the public sector.