Less than 18 months after moving its headquarters to Dallas from Minneapolis, MoneyGram International is expanding its presence in North Texas. The company has inked a lease for 25,287 square feet at Hall Office Park in Frisco, with plans to grow to 40,000 square feet. About 100 employees will initially occupy the space; MoneyGram aims to have 140 workers on board in Frisco by 2013.
The new office will house MoneyGram’s compliance operations and a couple of other smaller groups. Some of the jobs are coming from other parts of the country, including Denver and Minneapolis, said Patty Sullivan, senior vice president of communications. “We’ve been restructuring and consolidating programs and systems to become more efficient, and one of those areas is our compliance group,” she said.
In November 2010, when MoneyGram moved into its new 45,850-square-foot headquarters at 2828 Harwood in Uptown, about 50 people worked out of the space. Today the company has 240 employees in North Texas—100 of whom will be based in Frisco, where 40 additional positions will be created before the end of next year. Some workers have already shifted to temporary space at Hall Office Park. MoneyGram will take occupancy of its permanent space in early May, once interior work wraps up. Globally, MoneyGram employs more than 2,500 people.
Despite its Dallas headquarters, North Texas wasn’t a shoo-in for the compliance group base. According to site selection consultants Linda Burns and Dennis Donovan, WDG Consulting, MoneyGram evaluated Colorado, Minnesota, and Texas for the operation, with a focus on the metro areas of Denver, Minneapolis, and Dallas. “We then narrowed the search down to our Texas short list of Dallas, Addison, Farmers Branch, Frisco, Irving, and Plano,” Donovan said. “Hands down, this was one of the most cooperative relocation efforts we’ve experienced, with each professional involved working diligently to serve the best interests of the client.”
Jeff Staubach and Brooke Armstrong with Jones Lang LaSalle represented MoneyGram in its search for space and lease negotiations. Kim Butler, Tammy Lomonaco-Nellis, and Brad Gibson with Hall Financial Group represented Hall Office Park. Jim Gandy and Nancy Windham with the Frisco Economic Development Corp. helped with recruitment and incentives efforts.
With the Frisco Economic Development Corporation’s performance agreement and additional incentives provided by the City of Frisco and Collin County, MoneyGram will be able to earn up to $4,800 per new job created over a five-year period. An incentives application also is pending with the State of Texas.
Sullivan said access to a strong employment base, excellent housing opportunities, and economic incentives helped Frisco win out. “Many people are new to Dallas and many families want to live in Frisco and out that way,” she said. “Along with the package they offered and the labor market for the positions we need to fill, it created sort of the perfect storm.”
Led by Pamela Patsley (featured in this recent D CEO profile), MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI) is the second-largest and fastest-growing money transfer company in the world. It specializes in global fund transfers and financial paper products.
Since Patsley took the helm as the turnaround CEO in 2009, the company has been hitting its stride. It generated revenue of $1.25 billion in 2011, up from $1.16 billion in 2010. It also saw an 18 percent jump in the number of global agent locations, from 244,000 to 267,000. That’s more than the twice the number of locations of McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway, and Wal-Mart outlets combined.
Here is a comment Patsley released when year-end financials were announced last month:
“For the year we achieved double-digit growth in money transfer transaction volume, constant currency revenue, and agent locations. Our impressive performance was achieved while we recapitalized our preferred shares, nearly doubled our public float, and reduced our second lien debt by $175 million. We are optimistic about 2012 and, while we are mindful of the economic challenges in Europe, our business is geographically diverse. We have great momentum in our money transfer business and continue to leverage the core as we expand into online, account-based, mobile, and self-service offerings. We will utilize our strong cash flow to invest in the business and maximize shareholder value.”
The MoneyGram lease is another big win for Hall Office Park, a 2 million-square-foot complex that’s now 95 percent leased. Butler, director of leasing for Hall, said the landlord was able to accommodate the full-floor requirement and, “with 14 other buildings in the park and more to come, we can accommodate their growth and expansion plans right here, too.”
About 35 lease options remain available at Hall, ranging from 1,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet. But demand has compelled Hall to look at new construction as well, Butler said.
“Our architects, HKS Inc., are working on modifying and finalizing the park’s master plan to allow for three additional buildings to be built on the land that fronts the Tollway,” she said. “We are marketing the first building now—3001 Dallas Parkway, an eight-story, 200,000-square-foot Class AA building with an attached parking structure.”
Sullivan, a Dallas native who joined MoneyGram when it moved to Texas, said the company is starting to gain a higher profile locally.
“MoneyGram is a global company, but not many people in Dallas know it, as it’s relatively new here,” she said. “We’re like this little gem, but watch out, because we’re in a very interesting and growing business. It has been exciting to see the roots go down and the company begin to take hold in Dallas, and now up in Frisco.”
