DALLAS — Uber Technologies Inc. is pulling back temporarily on its big push into Dallas amid challenges with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company is delaying for now its hiring activities at its new site in North Texas that’s set to the be the largest U.S. office outside of its headquarters in San Francisco, according to Travis Considine, communications manager for Uber. The company is also quieting tenant improvement work at a tower in Dallas. The tower next door, set to be completed by around the later part of 2022, continues to progress.
“As a consequence of the current COVID19 crisis, we are going to temporarily pause construction,” on the first tower, Considine said. “In the long-term, we don’t anticipate any changes to our strategy or expectations regarding growth in the state.”
The company had begun construction on the site at a groundbreaking event at the end of last year and had moved into an existing tower at The Epic adjacent to the new development. Uber had grown to about 150 to 200 people before the hiring pause, Considine said. It has operations on two floors at the existing building and was doing work on another floor.
“Uber is grateful for the responsible leadership Gov. (Greg) Abbott, Mayor (Eric) Johnson, and Judge (Clay) Jenkins have shown throughout this difficult time, and we look forward to getting back on track creating jobs and continuing to make Texas a hub of innovation when this is all over,” Considine said.
Uber (NYSE: UBER) announced last year it was moving folks into the Dallas site near Deep Ellum and aims to have 3,000 employees eventually. The new site will include operations for Uber Eats, recruiting, human resources, legal and business development teams.
