It Could Have Been A Hub

"The city’s largest office building—the 44-story AT&T Tower, now empty—recently sold for around $3.5 million in 2022."

"The price for the AT&T Tower, three blocks from the Railway Exchange, was a sliver of the $205 million it sold for in 2006."

The Real Estate Nightmare in Downtown St. Louis https://www.wsj.com/articles/doom-loop-st-louis-44505465

The stark reality is when you're time has come, it is here. AT&T, as SBC, had a huge presence in St. Louis. As Dallas became the headquarters of AT&T, St. Louis became expendable and it was in 2017 that AT&T vacated the premises altogether.

AT&T in a rare win, sold the building in 2006 to a REIT for $205 million and leased it back until 2017. Recently, the AT&T Tower sold for a paltry $3.5 million in 2022.

Like St. Louis, AT&T stock is stuck in a doom loop. No revenue growth, competitors everywhere, gear is getting cheaper and cheaper and easier and easier to install. It equals a commoditized offering where a monopoly enjoyed by AT&T / Baby Bells was once but a glorious dream for those who worked for the company in the 70's, 80's, & 90's.

The internet revolution commenced and so did competition.

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31 replies (most recent on top)

This RTO is not being done across the board!!
We have a technician warehouse that is exactly that a warehouse with offices!
Some "financial analyst" have decided they don't want to go to Dallas so about 45 of them have had our top floor remodeled and they moved in!
This building was never meant to be a call center of any sort but they somehow were allowed to stay here!
So if your being forced to move just think about that!
Its a warehouse for I and R and C and e techs in EL PASO TX.
And we are not half ways across the country we are only 600 miles from Dallas

"People get shot just blocks from the T building all the time" - true. There was a bullet on the window ledge of 1010 Pine, 18th flr I think. I saw it (that was the floor/side I always reserved when required to go into the office). Crazy how the heck it landed there. West side of the building. Not sure if shot from one of the lofts or not but that's just kind of freaking scary having a bullet outside where you work (that high up). The window wasn't damaged.

I was in Alpharetta recently and heard g-nshots. Several cars in the store parking lot had bullet holes. G-ns are everywhere.

Atlanta is temporary. My leadership says that Atlanta is career death. Dallas is where you need to be. Don't believe me, look at Workday jobs, they are all Dallas or Bratislava. lol

"Don’t need a hub in st Louis. It’s Dallas or Atlanta. Sell them all."

Don't kid yourself. Atlanta is only temporary. ATT is already shutting down some groups in Atlanta and forcing them to move to Dallas.

“If it makes no sense to you, you made a choice. Own it!”

Wut?

"It makes no sense to make me relocate as we would all be on teams anyways no matter where we live unless they made all of us relocate to the same hubs and also relocated the international team members."
If it makes no sense to you, you made a choice. Own it!

"So how does T approve a business case to move 1 group when a like group in same reporting structure gets to stay scattered.
VP favoritism that’s how."

Some VPs/AVPs have more of a spine than others.

“Because T isn’t doing this. No one is being forced to move. Requirements for many positions are changing and many employees are being given the choice to follow the work.”

This is just factually untrue.
I got the letter to relocate to Dallas (I haven’t had to yet) but my job title, responsibilities, etc would remain exactly the same on the same team etc I’d just be in Dallas.
Btw none of the team is in Dallas, they’re spread across other hubs, Europe, and Canada.
It makes no sense to make me relocate as we would all be on teams anyways no matter where we live unless they made all of us relocate to the same hubs and also relocated the international team members.

This whole thing is just a headcount reduction and exercise in compliance to tick boxes to make Stankey, board members, and shareholders happy.

Yes yes sell then go full remote. Then layoff the full remote with RTO demand then rehire for less than paid before! Win win.

“ Because T isn’t doing this. No one is being forced to move. Requirements for many positions are changing and many employees are being given the choice to follow the work.”

You obviously are a field tech saying things like that and don’t understand what’s truly happening in the office world. It’s move or get let go, end of story. Job is identical. Anyone that RTO’d knows that there is no difference where I take a teams call from. Drive in, sit at a desk, teams calls, talk with no one, drive home. Same thing with relo, still doing the same job the exact same way. This was purely to reduce headcount. Notice that headcount is down over 100k employees over the past 5 years, their goal is under 100k, I full expect another 15-20k layoffs this year and again next year.

“I don’t know how company is getting away with forcing relo or leave on employees in hub cities but allowing so many groups to have their people scattered.”
Because T isn’t doing this. No one is being forced to move. Requirements for many positions are changing and many employees are being given the choice to follow the work.

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/doom-loop-st-louis-44505465

Yea, sounds like a great place to live......said no one ever.

The reality is T was too slow to change to a true competitive organization while it destroyed its balance sheet with debt it can never repay. Even Solomon himself couldn’t save T now. It’s too late!

I don’t know how company is getting away with forcing relo or leave on employees in hub cities but allowing so many groups to have their people scattered. And these aren’t field jobs.
So how does T approve a business case to move 1 group when a like group in same reporting structure gets to stay scattered.
VP favoritism that’s how.
It’s going to catch up to them.
They should do the layoffs for relo with transparency!!

Don’t need a hub in st Louis. It’s Dallas or Atlanta. Sell them all.

Agreed. Sell them all and go full remote.

“Big overstatement. If you want to find trouble in St Louis, you'll find it. Same goes for avoiding it.”

Someone got shot in the head just blocks away from the T tower pumping gas.
Were they looking for trouble?

Don’t need a hub in st Louis. It’s Dallas or Atlanta. Sell them all.

“What people outside of StL don't know, is that you either love or hate StL, yes. But if you hate it, you live in the County. People that love StL, don't talk about their love, because there are huge waiting lists to get into those secret community neighborhoods. StL loves to ride a fine line of its own demands.”

I’m well aware of where the nice communities are in STL and the fact of the matter is I wouldn’t pay that price to live in STL when I could be a bit further out and have a much nicer larger home for less…I’m not spending ~$1M to live in a failing city…

“Ultimately, you ignored my comments about the cultural communities in St Louis. Att is committing white flight in St Louis. If you are a St Louisan, you know exactly what I'm referring to.”

I didn’t comment on this because these kinds of considerations are irrelevant to me when choosing where to raise my family and live. I’m worried about mine, not someone else’s. I’m sure ATT chose to exit STL for an array of reasons one of which being crime, etc…or as you’d say ‘white-flight’ the other being attracting real talent to a city like STL is probably near impossible vs somewhere like Dallas which isn’t considered a prime city but still better than STL.
I don’t like cities at all, and wouldn’t live in one if I had to option not to, but jr’s fresh out of college all want to be in cities like San Fran.

but STL su-ks. I’ve lived here my entire life and hate this city.
What people outside of StL don't know, is that you either love or hate StL, yes. But if you hate it, you live in the County. People that love StL, don't talk about their love, because there are huge waiting lists to get into those secret community neighborhoods. StL loves to ride a fine line of its own demands.

People get shot just blocks from the T building all the time."
Big overstatement. If you want to find trouble in St Louis, you'll find it. Same goes for avoiding it.

Ultimately, you ignored my comments about the cultural communities in St Louis. Att is committing white flight in St Louis. If you are a St Louisan, you know exactly what I'm referring to.

*The AT&T building in St Louis has to be one of the most ugly buildings that I have ever seen. *
lol, which building? Att employees work inside them and they are very nice inside.
Anyway, please supply your architectural contributions to society.

And yes, I take the bridge - I avoid walking around downtown STL as much as possible. People get shot just blocks from the T building all the time.

“St Louis Att still has two very well-kept, major buildings in the downtown area and access to a 7 level garage and bridged so that you never step foot on the street. If the perception is that St Louis area is in a deadspin, its because you gave up on the opportunities there and aren't aware of the large blue and white collar population in St Louis and St Louis County areas. The street that the remaining buildings have the Police Department and a large St Louis University student population right next door with great food businesses and parks within a block of it all. The Att building mentioned in this thread will provide future growth opportunities for Att. Att chose to turn its back, not be a partner to the working class in St Louis. Sell high, buy low. Att is currently buying high, selling low in the hub markets they selected. Makes no sense. ATT organizations are abandoning a huge African American, Asian, and Hispanic population in St Louis with a very strong community appreciation in their cultures. DEI let them down while it talks out the other side of its mouth. White leaders are dictating where the hubs are, not minorities. St Louis is proof. Want to help reduce crime? Att should participate in change in St Louis, not abandon it.”

Yes, the buildings downtown are OK - but STL su-ks. I’ve lived here my entire life and hate this city.
That being said, it’s affordable which is a lot more than can be said for other cities, and it isn’t over-crowded.
T is forcing most, if not all, of staff to move from STL to Dallas or firing them so they’re basically abandoning the area.
I get why they’d want to lower their footprint in STL since no one really wants to move here due to crime, how bad the city is, etc but I don’t see the need to let go of everyone who is already there. Everyone is always on teams anyways, even with people in STL we never meet in person. It’s just a silly exercise.
Unfortunately the alternative locations to move also aren’t much better as cities as a whole in the USA are just bad places to live.
I’m uncertain T staying would do much to really revitalize downtown, as I don’t think any one particular company can revitalize any city, the problems are deeper than that (look at San Francisco) I think better alternatives are to just forget cities (they su-k) and let people who can work remotely. No one wants to deal with multi-hour commutes, fighting people for parking, the inherit dangers of being in the city, etc.

The AT&T building in St Louis has to be one of the most ugly buildings that I have ever seen. A prime example of bad 1970's architecture. Allowing that monstrosity to be built was a huge mistake.

St Louis Att still has two very well-kept, major buildings in the downtown area and access to a 7 level garage and bridged so that you never step foot on the street. If the perception is that St Louis area is in a deadspin, its because you gave up on the opportunities there and aren't aware of the large blue and white collar population in St Louis and St Louis County areas. The street that the remaining buildings have the Police Department and a large St Louis University student population right next door with great food businesses and parks within a block of it all. The Att building mentioned in this thread will provide future growth opportunities for Att. Att chose to turn its back, not be a partner to the working class in St Louis.

Sell high, buy low. Att is currently buying high, selling low in the hub markets they selected. Makes no sense.

Att organizations are abandoning a huge African American, Asian, and Hispanic population in St Louis with a very strong community appreciation in their cultures. DEI let them down while it talks out the other side of its mouth. White leaders are dictating where the hubs are, not minorities. St Louis is proof. Want to help reduce crime? Att should participate in change in St Louis, not abandon it.

Crime city St Louis is a good place to leave!!

And let's not forget the huge and hugely expensive Hoffman Estates location that was sold to a developer and at best is now mostly underutilized.

The Stink - knows more about real estate than anyone else!

The Wisconsin HQ in Milwaukee which is half the size of the St. Louis facility sold for about $30 million. I believe it too is now empty with no plans to renovate.

AT&T in a rare win, sold the building in 2006 to a REIT for $205 million and leased it back until 2017.

Is AT&T stuck un a doom loop?

Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

It Could Have Been A Hub

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