Caterpillar plans $36M Las Colinas headquarters buildout

Caterpillar filed plans for a $36 million first-phase buildout of its Las Colinas headquarters in Irving, renovating 107,000 square feet of a former Zales campus the heavy-equipment maker bought last year.

The work at 901 West Walnut Hill Lane, filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation under the nickname “Project Stone,” is the company’s first major investment in a property that totals more than 400,000 square feet. Gensler is the architect, with completion targeted for August 2027.

Why it matters

The buildout signals that Caterpillar is committing capital to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro four years after relocating its headquarters from Deerfield, Illinois — one of the marquee corporate moves that has reshaped North Texas office demand. Owner-occupier investment matters more than a lease in a soft office market: it takes space off the speculative board and anchors long-term employment. Converting a former retail-jeweler campus into a modern corporate hub also fits the region’s pattern of repositioning older suburban office stock rather than building new towers.

The numbers

The first phase covers 107,000 of the campus’s 400,000-plus square feet at a cost of $36 million, a figure that points to a high-end corporate fit-out rather than a shell renovation. The former Zales complex once housed roughly 3,000 workers; Caterpillar bought it from office-furniture company Vari last year and plans to use the new space for workforce expansion and hosting customers and dealers. The company currently occupies the Towers at Williams Square about three miles away.

What’s next

Caterpillar aims to complete the first phase by August 2027, with room to expand across the remaining 300,000-plus square feet as headcount grows. The project adds a data point to the development case for Las Colinas, where corporate relocations keep converting legacy suburban campuses into active headquarters space.