The former Richards Group Class AA building has a new signature tenant. Eight giant letters atop One West Village in Uptown have made it official: Wingstop has assumed its new headquarters off of North Central Expressway after relocating from Addison.
It’s not just the wings that are on fire for the Dallas-based chain. Between FY2022 and 2023, Wingstop’s systemwide sales increased 27.1 percent to $3.5 billion. Its restaurant count had reached 2,214 locations worldwide, and total revenue had increased 28.7 percent to $460.1 million. The findings marked 20 consecutive years of domestic same store sales growth. Since the company went public at $19 per share in 2015, stock values have increased to over $400 as of late September.
There’s also been growth within the Wingstop organization, which resulted in the company running out of space in its former corporate offices near Addison Airport. “It’s been very healthy, and it’s been very organic, but it happened a little bit faster than we anticipated,” said Donnie Upshaw, Wingstop’s chief people officer and senior vice president of corporate restaurants. “And so as we thought about our next move, we wanted to be really strategic around location, as well as the asset.”
That meant partnering with CBRE, which moved its own global headquarters to Dallas in 2020. Having worked with CBRE in the past, Upshaw said, it made sense to partner with them as Wingstop looked to its future. “I think they understand what’s important to us,” Upshaw said, “and I think they have the sense of urgency, the expertise, that really makes a transaction like this, albeit a large one, really easy to manage internally.”
In what has so far been the second-largest office transaction in Dallas for the year, Wingstop leased more than 112,000 square feet—with room to grow—on the top four floors of the One West Village building, along the west side of US-75. The building is owned by OliveMill Holdings.
“We feel like our culture really thrives from an in-person environment,” Upshaw said, “but we did want to make sure people felt compelled to come to the office, and obviously location asset type is a big driver in that.”
Wingstop’s new space will include open floors encouraging collaboration, creative space with a podcast studio, double the conference spaces, and a test kitchen. The building’s iconic staircase, which you can see from the outside, has been painted green as an homage to the brand.
CBRE Vice Chairman Josh White and Senior Vice President Ryan Buchanan brokered the Uptown deal on behalf of Wingstop. “This is indicative of an underreported trend, in my opinion,” White said, “which is that the best companies in the world are making bold decisions to create a place where their people are compelled to come to, not obligated to come to.”
After Upshaw and White initially made contact about the transaction, the solution—landing at the former home of The Richards Group—was found within roughly a year. “That is lightning fast for our industry,” White said. “And there were guiding principles in place by the leadership team.”
Upshaw said walkability was a key factor. “We wanted a really cool space with some prominence,” he said. “We want people to know that Wingstop is a Dallas-based brand, and we’re here to stay.”
Attractive amenities were also high on the wish list, both within the building and in terms of nearby offerings. “And being in the heart of Dallas, I think, afforded that,” Upshaw said. “Location was a factor as well—I think it’s really easy to get to anywhere in Dallas from where we’ll be situated.”
As White puts it, the move is evidence that the office market is far from dead. “It’s alive and well and is going to continue to be alive and well,” White said. “The best companies that we work with believe that and are committed to the idea that there is a return on investment that can be had with office space.”
And when it comes to the urban core, White doubles down. “What I find interesting is that the companies that have made this move from either out of market or from the suburbs into the urban core, coincidentally, seem to have the best, most dynamic cultures that we see in our travels throughout this industry,” White said. “So I’m excited about what that means for Dallas. I’m excited about those who may follow with a move like what Wingstop has just made, and I believe we’ve got some sunny days ahead of us in this office market.”
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