Animatronic Dinosaur Manufacturer Expanding HQ In Texas

Billings Productions is building a 50,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing facility in Allen, TX to house 350 life-size, animatronic dinosaurs.

Billings Productions, Inc., North America’s leading provider of life-size animatronic dinosaurs, will open a new 50,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing center in Allen, TX this year. The facility is designed to become a leading attraction in the Dallas metro area, as Billings Productions continues to design and fabricate extinct creatures and construct exhibits for zoos, museums and theme parks.

Alliance Architects
A rendering of Billings Productions’ new headquarters and manufacturing center now under construction in Allen, TX. (Source: Alliance Architects/Twitter)

Billings Productions broke ground on its new headquarters late last year and will move its team of 40 expert craftspeople and 350 life-size dinosaur and giant bug animatronics to the new location, slated to open by late-2020. The build-to-suit facility, designed by Alliance Architects and represented by Partners National Real Estate Group, will include space for community events and offer tours showcasing how the life-like dinosaurs and bugs are made.

“We made the right choice coming to Allen,” said Lauren Billings, Billings Productions’ vice president of operations. “Community support has been phenomenal, from Allen Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) to the architects and everyone in between. We are excited to continue our growth in the place where we began as a small business.”

“We are thrilled that a home-grown Allen business has chosen to expand in our community,” said Dan Bowman, executive director of the AEDC.  “Animatronic dinosaur manufacturing is about as creative an industry as we could hope to attract – and it highlights the diversity of businesses that call the City of Allen home.”

In a mashup of art and modern manufacturing, Billings’ artists sculpt and mold the models for the impressive creatures, engineers design the structures, and a production team brings them to life. After initial production, teams repair and redesign the creatures in rotation.

While Billings’ previous facility offered generous space to produce these lifelike creatures, the new, community-oriented headquarters offers a sleek design, engaging signage, a large events space, gift shop and parking to accommodate visiting students and dinosaur enthusiasts.

animatronic dinosaurs
One of Billings Productions’ life-size dinosaur animatronics.

Since starting the company in an old airplane hangar in 2003 and moving to its most recent location in 2012, Billings Productions has grown to become a world leader in design and development and the only manufacturer of fully assembled dinosaurs, bugs, and primal predators in the U.S.

“We want to involve the community in our business by showing them what we do – so that they too can feel like they have a hand in our success,” said Billings Productions’ Founder Sandra Billings. “We’re thrilled to be able to do so in the City of Allen, where we’ve grown tremendously.”

The Billings expansion underscores Allen’s growth trend, which saw its workforce and business roster expand throughout the 2010s. The city has completed $500 million in new commercial projects in the past two years. Allen’s technology and telecommunications corridor includes companies such as NETSCOUT, GIACT, TriTech Software, and next-gen data centers for AT&T and Cisco, among others.

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