June 14, 2022 Jeff Yoders KEYWORDS Caterpillar / Chicago / Construction Equipment / Corporate Headquarters / texas Order Reprints No Comments

Equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Inc., announced it's moving its corporate headquarters to Irving, Texas, expanding a new office that the company added in 2021. When the move is completed in 2023, 240 office employees are expected to join the maker of excavators, bulldozers and other construction machines at the new corporate office near Dallas.

“We believe it’s in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar’s strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world,” said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby in a statement. Cat, as it's commonly known, is the second Fortune 500 company to announce a move from Chicago in the last two months, following Boeing, which implied its move was related to being closer to government regulators in suburban Washington, D.C.

"We will continue to support the 17,400 Illinoisans who work for the company in East Peoria, Mapleton, Mossville, Pontiac and Decatur — which remains Caterpillar’s largest manufacturing plant in North America after the company’s recent expansion," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said in a statement in response to the move. Caterpillar said in its statement that all of its manufacturing operations will remain unchanged.

Deerfield only became the company's headquarters in 2017 after Caterpillar relocated from East Peoria. The rented campus that Caterpillar operates out of in the community just north of Chicago was put up for sale by its owner in 2021. Caterpillar representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the Deerfield office's future, but if all employees choose to move with it to Irving or to other operations, then Caterpillar could easily walk away from it when its lease expires as there are no manufacturing operations there.

In a statement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) described the company's relocation as "major win for the people of North Texas and the entire state."

"Caterpillar's relocation to Irving is a testament to the boundless opportunity Texas has to offer," he said. "I look forward to working alongside this global leader as we keep the American Dream a reality for every Texan."

 Representatives from the governor's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the move and if any tax incentives were involved beyond Texas having no state income tax for companies or individuals.

Caterpillar’s move follows several other major construction-related firms relocating their global headquarters to the North Texas area. In October of last year, AECOM moved its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas and in 2016 Jacobs Engineering Group relocated its global headquarters from Pasadena, Calif. to Dallas as well. In 2006, Fluor moved its headquarters from Aliso Viejo, Calif. to Irving.