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Major employer trades office in Cypress Waters for a new HQ in downtown Dallas

Insurance firm Integrity Marketing Group will bring hundreds of workers to downtown’s Fountain Place tower.

Downtown Dallas is getting a major new office employer in one of the largest such moves from the suburbs in years.

Integrity Marketing Group, a large independent insurance provider, is leasing about 100,000 square feet of office space in the landmark Fountain Place tower on Ross Avenue. It’s one of the largest office transactions in North Texas since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The insurer, which has more than 5,500 workers nationwide, is shifting its head office from the Cypress Waters development north of LBJ Freeway to the downtown skyscraper. Between 300 and 400 employees will be housed in the new offices when they open in the spring.

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Integrity Marketing decided on the downtown move after looking at numerous office options, CEO Bryan Adams said. He said Fountain Place allows his company the space it needs to continue to grow.

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“We looked at staying around Cypress Waters,” Adams said. “As fast as we are growing, we need more space than a campus-type program.

“We looked up in Frisco and at Legacy in Plano,” he said. “We looked pretty much everywhere, including Uptown and downtown.”

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Adams said that Integrity Marketing Group will be taking six floors at Fountain Place. “We’re in three floors in a temporary spot we just moved into,” he said. “Our execs and most of our team are here now. We are already bursting at the seams.”

Since the start of 2021, the company has increased its worker ranks from 1,700 to nearly 5,500 employees.

“Our projections take us to hundreds more people here in the next three or so years,” Adams said. “Fountain Place has been one of the most iconic buildings downtown.

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“It’s an opportunity for us to have a big urban building and presence in a world-class facility.”

Dallas-based architect Corgan is designing the insurance firm’s new headquarters to allow for future growth.

The insurance firm’s move comes just as downtown Dallas is emerging from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of downtown’s offices were empty for much of last year as workers stayed home.

Now downtown is coming alive again as employers reopen their offices.

“This move is a very positive indication for downtown, particularly coming out of the last year,” said Kourtny Garrett, president of the economic development group Downtown Dallas Inc. “The last year has been challenging for every market.

“We are excited to be able to talk about a move like this.”

Integrity Marketing Group’s relocation is one of the largest additions to the downtown area in the last decade. The insurance company joins other businesses, including Goldman Sachs and Omnicom Group, that have relocated workers to Dallas’ central business district.

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“I can’t really recall many bigger moves downtown,” said Josh White, executive vice president of commercial property firm CBRE. “It’s an important signal of life returning downtown and hopefully sends a message to some of these other relocating tenants.

“I was excited about the trend associated with this transaction,” said White, who represented Integrity Marketing Group in its search for a new location. “We have seen so much of urban tenants relocating to suburban solutions.”

White handled the lease negotiations along with CBRE’s Ryan Buchanan, Fletcher Cordell, Dennis Barnes and Jackie Marshall.

Integrity Marketing Group is one of the country’s largest independent distributors of life and health insurance products and works through more than 370,000 agents. Those agents serve more than 8 million clients.

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“I started this business out of my house in Highland Village,” Adams said. “With us being a hyper-growth insurance tech business, we needed the flexibility to grow.

“This offices gives us an opportunity to truly have a vertical campus that we can continue to add additional floors.”

Integrity Marketing Group’s move downtown comes just after Fountain Place owner Goddard Investment Group spent more than $70 million redeveloping the landmark Ross Avenue tower.

“We have just completed a historic renovation of Fountain Place, so we are very excited to partner with such an explosive and market-leading group like Integrity Marketing,” Russell Read, president for Goddard Investment Group, said in a statement. “They are the perfect fit for such a striking and iconic office building.”

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Fountain Place's owners just completed a more than $70 million renovation of the landmark...
Fountain Place's owners just completed a more than $70 million renovation of the landmark downtown skyscraper.(Goddard Investment Group)