Economy

Public Storage moves headquarters from California to Texas

REIT cites Dallas talent as leadership shifts, Corporate domicile follows operating math

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Rep. Kevin Kiley R-Calif., criticizes California’s ‘devastating’ proposed wealth tax and how it will affect the state’s residents on ‘The Evening Edit.’ Rep. Kevin Kiley R-Calif., criticizes California’s ‘devastating’ proposed wealth tax and how it will affect the state’s residents on ‘The Evening Edit.’ foxbusiness.com
Public Storage Makes $11 Billion Bid for Rival Life Storage Public Storage Makes $11 Billion Bid for Rival Life Storage foxbusiness.com
Public Storage Makes $11 Billion Bid for Rival Life Storage Public Storage Makes $11 Billion Bid for Rival Life Storage foxbusiness.com
public storage facility in san francisco public storage facility in san francisco foxbusiness.com

Public Storage, the S&P 500 self-storage REIT, said it will relocate its headquarters from California to the Dallas–Fort Worth area while keeping a long-term presence in Glendale. The company framed the move as part of a broader transition—new CEO Tom Boyle takes over April 1, and Welltower CEO Shankh Mitra will become non-executive chairman—under an internal strategy it calls “PS4.0,” Fox Business reports.

The relocation is the latest reminder that US states compete like jurisdictions, not just like labor markets. A headquarters move changes where top management sits, where finance and legal functions cluster, and where future hiring tends to concentrate. It also affects which state’s rules apply most directly to executive decision-making and which political system the company must negotiate with when it wants permits, tax rulings, or regulatory clarity.

Texas’ pitch is straightforward: no state income tax, lower operating costs, and a large metro labor pool. Public Storage did not explicitly cite taxes or regulation, instead pointing to “depth of talent and innovation” in the region, according to Fox Business. That phrasing is common in corporate relocations because it avoids picking a fight with the state being left behind while still signaling to investors that management is optimizing for a different cost and policy environment.

For a REIT, the calculus is unusually concrete. Operating expenses, insurance costs, and construction timelines directly affect cash flows; local governance shapes zoning and development; and capital markets reward predictable expansion plans. Public Storage says it has deployed more than $12 billion into acquisitions and development over the past five years and intends to accelerate, Fox Business reports. A headquarters in a lower-cost, faster-growing region is a way to align leadership with where deals are expected to happen.

The company’s PS4.0 initiative also points to how traditional property businesses are trying to defend margins: more dynamic pricing, heavier use of data science, and digital customer acquisition. That tends to increase the value of centralized analytics teams and executive oversight—functions that typically follow the headquarters.

Public Storage was founded in California in 1972 and still plans to maintain a presence in Glendale. But the corporate address is moving to Texas, and with it the center of gravity for decisions about where the next billions will be spent.