ACT call center to close in San Luis, 232 jobs lost

Advanced Call Center Technologies is shutting down its San Luis call center by August, cutting 232 jobs in a blow to one of the city’s largest employers and to household budgets that depend on those paychecks.

The Arizona WARN notice filed May 1 listed 232 employees affected at 580 N. San Luis Plaza Dr. in San Luis. The company also told Mayor Nieves Riedel on May 1 that it planned to close by summer, giving workers the 60-day notice required under WARN rules and setting up a tight summer timeline for families to absorb the loss.

The closure carries a second financial hit for the city. San Luis bought the building in 2008 specifically to attract the call center, and the site was meant to anchor local economic development. But ACT’s lease payments did not fully cover the mortgage, so the city had been paying the difference. That means the shutdown could strain city finances at the same time it wipes out wages for 232 workers.

Riedel said the city is already looking for a new tenant and has two strong leads, though he acknowledged that filling the space will not be easy. The building’s loss matters beyond one address: the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce lists ACT alongside the City of San Luis and the Gadsden Elementary School District as one of the area’s large employers, underscoring how deeply the operation was woven into the local economy.

ACT’s San Luis site had long been treated as a durable investment. In 2018, the company said a lease extension approved by the city council would keep the call center in the city-owned building for at least another nine years. Instead, the shutdown will end an operation that served major clients including Bank of America and DirecTV.

The company has begun helping employees navigate unemployment benefits and training, and Arizona’s Department of Economic Security says its Rapid Response program and WARN-related services are available to help workers and communities facing layoffs. For San Luis families, the impact will likely be immediate: paychecks will stop by late summer, while the city will still be searching for a replacement employer large enough to backfill both the jobs and the economic ripple they created.