Rideshare Startup Alto To Open New 'Community-Centric' HQ in Dallas Design District

Alto needs room to grow, and it just got it. The Dallas-based ridesharing company has leased a new 16,000-square-foot headquarters at 141 Manufacturing St. in the Dallas Design District.

News of Alto’s new HQ follows the startup’s expansion into Silicon Valley, which it announced in March. Alto first expanded outside of North Texas to Houston in 2020, and now has operations in Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington, D.C., as well.

Around 100 Alto employees, including the executive, engineering, marketing, and operations teams, will work out of the new HQ. It will be the company’s base as it explores further growth and expansion into new markets.

Growth fueled by last June’s $45M funding round

Covered seating area just outside the planned Triumphs coffee shop at 141 Manufacturing St. The seating area is adjacent to The Grove, an outdoor community lounge with greenspace and 6G Wi-Fi. [Photo © 2022 Paul Go Images, LLC]

Alto’s growth is being fueled by the $45 million Series B funding round co-led by Tuesday Capital and local firm Goff Capital that it landed in June 2021—which brought the company’s total funding to $60 million since its launch in 2018.

Alto distinguishes itself from other rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft by owning its own fleet of luxury vehicles and managing its own W-2 employee drivers. Besides “rethinking an inconsistent, gig-based industry,” Alto also aims to be the first 100% electric ridesharing service, with a fleet of 3,000 EVs planned by the end of 2023.

Quadrant Investment Properties developed Alto’s new HQ home

Alto CEO Will Coleman [Photo: Courtesy Alto]

Alto’s new HQ is in one of many properties in the “Manufacturing District” developed by Quadrant Investment Properties (QIP). Originally an industrial area from the 1940s, the district is part of the larger Dallas Design District. With a laser focus on the neighborhood, QIP says it’s acquired more than 25 properties in the last 24 months.

Alto CEO Will Coleman walked through his future HQ space and liked what he saw—believing it offers his team upsides in a return-to-the-office era.

“We’re excited to officially move into our new home in the Dallas Design District and welcome our team back to the office in a space that will inspire creativity and innovation,” Coleman said in a statement.

Designed to be “community-centric”

141 Manufacturing St. has a next-wave office feel. Designed to be “community-centric,” it offers “shared amenities” like Lounge 141, a shared rooftop lounge with kitchen and balcony that features panoramic views of downtown Dallas.

A recently constructed “rail spur walking trail” connects the project together, giving employees a place to pace on breaks or conference calls.

In July, State Street Coffee will open Triumphs coffee shop in the building, offering small bites and plates.

The Grove, an outdoor community lounge with picnic tables, greenspace, and 6G Wi-Fi, brings the inside out and the outside in, offering “activation opportunities” for tenant companies.

In total, the Manufacturing District offers nearly 100,000 square feet of recently converted creative office space for lease, QIP says.

Answering the question: ‘Will workers come back to the office?’

“The office experience we’ve tried to create here was designed with companies like Alto in mind,” QIP Founder Chad Cook said in the statement. “We also strongly believe that the unique, amenity-rich environment that the Manufacturing District provides is the answer to the question of ‘Will workers come back to the office?’ We’re seeing this play out in real time with multiple users who are focused on creating an office environment that inspires their employees to participate.”

Chad Cook, founder of Quadrant Investment Properties. [Photo: QIP]

“For the last three and half years, we’ve been almost exclusively focused on the Design District,” Cook added. “Thanks to a lot of help from the real estate community, an incredible lift from our team at QIP, and a little luck along the way, we’ve been able to aggregate 27 sites in very close proximity to each other. We look forward to delivering our vision over the next several years.”

In May, QIP broke ground on Thirteen Thirty-Three, a bespoke 10-story, 125,660-square-foot Class A office building located at 1333 Oak Lawn, and River Edge, a five-story, 140,757-square-foot office building featuring three planned restaurants, located at 161 River Edge. Transwestern and Shop Companies are handling leasing for both properties, with delivery estimated for Q4 2023.

“[The Manufacturing District] is a top-of-the line urban development for brand-conscious companies,” said Kim Brooks, Principal for Transwestern, in the statement. “The next generation of office users will demand space like this in order to recruit and retain talent.”

Design District has had nearly $1B in private investment in last 15 years

The Dallas Design District has attracted nearly $1 billion in private investment over the last 15 years, according to Transwestern research. With splashy restaurant openings like the recently launched CARBONE and VINO, and new retail concepts recently announced like TOCA Social, a U.K.-based Top Golf-like soccer experience, the Design District is becoming a destination that gives office workers a lot to do once they leave their desks behind.

Alto was represented by Stream Realty Partners in its lease negotiations. Project architecture was led by Entos Design.