A former call center in northwestern Dallas has become a target for vandals, thieves, and homeless people, and the City hasn't taken action to fix it, according to someone who has worked near the building for the past couple of years.
The worker, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for safety, told The Dallas Express that the 15-acre site at 9999 Technology Blvd. was left empty in 2019.
“They sent all the jobs that were in this building overseas and just left it,” he said. “There’s a constant amount of activity there. The windows are broken and people have been coming to the building with U-Hauls and taking things.”
In 2019, French company Teleperformance shut down the center, laying off letting go of almost 400 employees as the company reorganized operations, as per the Dallas Business Journal. Currently, Teleperformance employs about half a million individuals, and in 2023, it recorded revenue of over $8.9 billion in revenue.
Central Appraisal District records show that the City of Dallas has owned the two-story gold-veneered glass-paneled building, built in 1984, since July 2023. As of last year, the site’s certified value was nearly $1.7 million.
“People are stealing things from inside, taking AC units and office equipment,” DX’s source told the news outlet. “People park in our employee lot because it’s not fenced in and jump over to the next property. They’ve done unknown things in there, with people always running in and out. A few weeks ago, police and the coroner showed up.”
As previously reported by DX, polling has indicated that most Dallas residents believe the City government is doing a poor job of “keeping crime low; addressing homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling; keeping public spaces clean; facilitating construction and expansion through its building permitting process; and providing a favorable environment to conduct business.”
When asked to provide the last two years of data on service calls to 9999 Technology Blvd., a Dallas police spokesperson told DX the news outlet needed to file an open records request. As of Friday, the request had not been answered.
“An unknown number of people are squatting in there,” the source said. “The building and premises are completely unsecured. They have no barrier to the parking lots — nothing. I left a 311 request, and it said they would update it to involve a police report. But it’s gotten progressively worse over the last three months.”
The Dallas 311 system allows residents and others to report concerns regarding City services and “overall quality of life.” It’s designed to be a “one-stop shop type of call center addressing all concerns on one call.” However, the system’s usefulness has been questioned.
The building on Technology Boulevard is in Dallas City Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6. He did not respond to a message seeking comment.
