Professional services firm Towers Watson is leasing a third office in Richardson, where it plans to hire 1,600 full-time, temporary benefit advisers and support staff.
The expansion is for Towers Watson’s Exchange Solutions division (formerly known as Extend Health). The company said that it’s an operator of the nation’s largest private Medicare health coverage exchange.
The international company said it is adding the service center in 116,000 square feet of office space in the Richardson Commons complex at 250 E. Arapaho Road, just east of U.S. Highway 75.
The company already has locations in Richardson at 1350 N. Glenville Drive and at 1122 Alma Road.
“Richardson has clearly established itself as a leader in industries such as health care, insurance and technology, as evidenced by Towers Watson’s creation of 1,600 new jobs here,” Richardson Mayor Laura Maczka said Monday in a prepared statement.
“We know they will continue to benefit from Richardson’s collaborative business environment and the outstanding workforce based in this area.”
The lease takes another big block of empty business space off the market in Richardson.
State Farm Insurance just leased an additional 821,000 square feet in the Telecom Corridor. The insurance company has rented more than 1.4 million square feet of office space in Richardson since last summer.
And total office vacancy in that area is now below 18 percent.
“The Richardson market has all of a sudden gotten very, very tight,” said Peloton Commercial Real Estate principal Chuck Sellers. “If you need 100,000 square feet in Richardson right now, there are slim pickings.
“Twelve months ago you would have had eight or nine choices.”
While long known as a favored location for high-tech firms, Richardson’s Telecom Corridor is now attracting thousands of jobs from financial services and insurance firms.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Bank of America, State Farm and UnitedHealthCare are among Richardson’s top employers.
Mike Kay, Baron Aldrine, Pete Danna, Mike Cleary and Steve Rigby of CBRE Group negotiated the new Towers Watson location with Joel Pustmueller of Peloton Commercial Real Estate.