The NRA continues to eye North Texas for new headquarters

A commercial real estate expert says the National Rifle Association is zeroing in on North Texas as it looks to relocate its headquarters out of Virginia.

Some locals who oppose the gun rights group recently caught wind of NRA reps touring a facility and plan on speaking out at Monday night’s city council meeting.

But as NBC 5 has learned, it may not be Richardson that the NRA is interested in.

While the NRA enjoys plenty of support in Texas, state leaders have touted Texas has more NRA members than any other state, the group also has its opponents.

“If I was given a choice, I would say no NRA in Texas,” said Collin County resident Almas Muscatwalla. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea for them to be here. I don’t think it’s going to do anything good for our community.”

Muscatwalla along with an associate pastor at Arapaho United Methodist Church in Richardson and other residents created a petition to voice opposition to NRA’s potential move to the suburb just north of Dallas.

Commercial real estate expert Steve Triolet is the senior vice president of Partners Real Estate. Triolet tracks real estate movements and trends across the state, including corporations, essentially who’s coming and who’s going.

He tracks what entities are touring what facilities, who’s buying, leasing or sub-leasing space in the business magnet DFW has been for most of the past 15 years.

“Dallas has become a corporate magnet for headquarter relocations partly due to DFW airport being centrally located,” he said. “Las Colinas is a prime target for companies where their executives need to travel.”

Triolet says through public records and his industry connections, he found NRA toured State Farm’s two million square foot campus in Richardson.

“They’ve been looking at Texas since at least 2021. They kind of pulled back and then started looking again this year,” he said. “They looked at Richardson and several other northern suburbs and now it seems like their focus is on Las Colinas/Freeport area is on their shortlist. They’re in negotiations to take a whole building in that area which would be roughly about 300,000 square feet.”

Triolet cannot speak as to what may have dissuaded the NRA from Richardson but is familiar with what such entities look for in a new home.

“They’re looking at building features. They’re looking at demographics and I’m sure Las Colinas, one of their appeals like I mentioned before, the airport being able to travel and just the availability of property,” he said.

The city of Irving did not respond to NBC 5’s request for comment.

A spokesman for the NRA provided NBC 5 the following statement:

“Last year, the NRA announced that it is considering strategic options regarding a corporate relocation, and Texas remains a preferred choice for a future HQ,” says Andrew Arulanandam, managing director of NRA Public Affairs. “That said, the NRA Board of Directors has not made any decision – and the Association is not in contract negotiations with any property in Texas. It is not accurate that the NRA is relocating to Richardson.”

The spokesman added that Richardson ‘was never on any list’ when it came to perspective HQ locations but did not say whether Irving is/was.

Muscatwalla says her opposition to the NRA moving to Richardson is not a ‘not in my backyard’ argument. She doesn’t want it anywhere.

Her group’s petition, which cites several concerns from potential protests outside whatever building they chose to employee pay, garnered around 500 signatures, she said.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea for them to be here and I don’t think it’s going to do any good for our community,” she said.

Communities should instead put energy into serving the homeless, affordable housing and addressing racial disparities, she said.

“We’re already open carry, permit-less and to have the headquarters here is going to further aggravate and strengthen their voice compared to the 80% of the people who want gun reform,” she said.

A spokesman for the City of Richardson told NBC 5 on Monday afternoon that State Farm informed the city ‘they have long-term leases in place and are not marketing sub-lease space on their campus.’

“They’re not officially marketing their space for lease,” confirmed Triolet. “But they’ve had a number of tenants tour one or more of their buildings: Carvana, Lithium Batteries, The NRA. They’ve all looked at potentially taking space from State Farm.”

Cities may not ever receive word if the NRA purchases a building or space in their community unless the organization asks for any economic incentives. A certificate of occupancy, Triolet says, is typically a formality to ensure a company is following regulations on how the space is used.