By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources public relations
GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention will relocate in late summer 2018 to 115,000 square feet of new leased offices at Pinnacle Tower. The new offices are located at 5005 LBJ Freeway in North Dallas, about 10 miles north of its location in Dallas’ Uptown district. GuideStone has occupied its current home since 1989. GuideStone’s headquarters building has been sold, but will be leased back until the move can be completed in the third quarter of 2018.
GuideStone trustees have worked closely with staff as it undertook a study in early 2017 to assess its facilities needs in light of its long-range goals. The move will occur as GuideStone celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018. It has been based in Dallas since its founding in 1918.
“The move is part of our Vision 20/20 and GuideStone 100 long-range strategic plans,” GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said. “Part of our commitment in our strategic plan is to aggressively manage costs to remain competitive for the benefit of our participants. This relocation is one of many changes, along with technology solutions and headcount reductions, that we’ve made over the last three years to help us achieve our long-range goals.
“As we seek to earn our participants’ confidence every day, we sought to make aggressive cost savings that will allow us to remain competitive today and into the future.”
The new office space will mark GuideStone’s 13th home in Dallas; it will be only its second in a generation. The move will help GuideStone leverage new technology as it prepares to enter its second century of service to its 250,000 participants. Technology has enabled a more efficient workforce, thus providing significant annual cost savings.
The building was originally acquired as an investment of GuideStone for the purposes of aiding the organization in providing benefit programs to Southern Baptist participants. The proceeds from the sale will continue to drive the benefit programs for Southern Baptists and others it is authorized to serve as part of its ministry assignment with the Southern Baptist Convention.
The sale and relocation are forecast to provide cost savings of $3 million annually as GuideStone sheds unused office space and moves to a more cost-effective location, which will help the ministry as it strives to keep costs in line for the benefit of its participants.
“We have focused on fostering collaboration, innovation and efficiency across our organization so that we can constantly improve service to our participants,” Hawkins said. “This new workplace will deploy technology solutions that will help keep us ahead of the curve. GuideStone has always given priority to our superior customer service, and technology plays a major role in helping us serve others to this end and work more efficiently. Our new office space and increasing technological support offer us additional capacity to continue to anticipate and exceed our participants’ and employees’ needs while maintaining our personal high touch approach to customer service.”
The move takes advantage of the current positive real estate market in Dallas’ Uptown region.
“As technology automates more of our processes, we simply need less room to accomplish even more tasks, so we felt like this time, with Uptown’s renaissance continuing, was optimal for us to consider how best to prepare, from a space perspective, for the future,” said John R. Jones, chief operating officer of GuideStone. “We considered several options, from renovating and leasing part of our current building to build-to-suit, to building out leasing space and ultimately decided on leasing at Pinnacle Tower.”
The new location sits within a 45-minute commute of almost 67 percent of workers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Jones said, making the location a smart move for recruiting talent to serve participants both today and in the future.
“As the Metroplex continues to migrate north, we wanted a location that was easily accessible to today’s workforce and tomorrow’s as well,” Jones said. “We will be at the very center of the Dallas region for workers as we seek to recruit and retain high-caliber, best-in-class workers to serve our participants.”
The new office space will facilitate the needs of mobile workers, both within the office and while on the road.
“We believe this move will set the stage for GuideStone to begin our second century of service with the physical and technological resources that will ensure our ability to achieve our vision of honoring the Lord by being a lifelong partner with our participants in enhancing their financial security,” Hawkins said.
