Hold your horses: Dallas to pay $350K to repair 30-ton Pegasus atop hotel

One final agenda item remained before the Dallas City Council was able to break for lunch on Wednesday: a 30-ton red Pegasus.

For an hour and a half, the city’s Office of Arts and Culture appeared before the Council, according to D Magazine, to warn of the danger posed by the 88-year-old Pegasus sign perched atop the 29-story Magnolia Hotel. Winds were picking up, they said, and the Pegasus sign and its eroding steel supports, which could topple and crush pedestrians below, were a disaster waiting to happen.

By the end of the meeting, all but one Council member approved spending about $358,000 to secure and repair the Pegasus that’s decorated the city’s skyline since 1934.

While the possibility of a plummeting red horse weighing about as much as a large fire truck may sound like a pressing issue, several members of the Council — whose seats, the publication noted, were arranged in a horseshoe — took issue with the fact that the hotel enjoys all the benefits of the equine art installation without contributing to its maintenance.

“I don’t feel good about it,” said Council member Cara Mendelsohn, the sole “nay” vote.

Though they have appreciated the massive Pegasus, the Commerce Street hotel’s various owners have historically been unwilling to pay for its upkeep, according to D Magazine. Naturally, city officials wanted to know why taxpayers have been stuck with the bill for 88 years.

Assistant City Attorney Connie Tankersley said through the years, the hotel had been approached by city staff about sharing some of the expense of keeping the Pegasus airborne.

“Those conversations were not fruitful,” she said bluntly.

The 100-year-old Magnolia is currently owned by NewcrestImage, a Dallas-based real estate investment company, which bought the property from Denver’s Stout Street Hospitality last year.

“I was present for the discussion and I wouldn’t characterize it as unfruitful,” countered Kay Kallos, the city’s Public Art Program Manager. “NewCrestImage… has not been unwilling to contribute to the maintenance of the Pegasus.”

Finger-pointing aside, faced with the possibility of legal action that could result from the flying horse tipping over and squashing pedestrians, some on the Council felt they were left with little choice.

“We are going into our two windiest months — we need to repair it,” Councilman Jesse Moreno said. “It’s our obligation and responsibility.”

Council members Adam Bazaldua and Gay Donnell Willis questioned whether the whole issue was truly an emergency, as this was the first time the Council was presented with a problem that was apparently only discovered last fall. Balduza even proposed delaying the whole decision until it could go before the Quality of Life committee to hash out possible ways to compel the hotel to pitch in for repairs, but the OAC staffers insisted the repairs were urgent.

“In the event of a failure of any of these support points, the outcome could be catastrophic,” they told the Council.

“This is a public safety issue,” Council member Omar Narvaez told his colleagues. “This isn’t about policy. This isn’t about public art. This is a public safety issue. This council has more than once said that public safety is our number one priority.”

[D Magazine] — Maddy Sperling