Plans to replace Dallas’ aging convention center with a mixed-use development and meeting complex could end up being the biggest public investment on the south side of downtown Dallas.
Next month, voters in Dallas will have the opportunity to approve or deny a proposition that would increase hotel taxes to fund the redevelopment of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center at 650 South Griffin Street, the Dallas Morning News reported. Proposition A also includes using the money to make improvements to Fair Park.
Major property owners near the convention center, including Hunt Realty Investments, have spoken out in favor of the project as a potential jump-start for the surrounding business district.
Hunt CEO Chris Kleinert said the company, which owns 20 acres at Reunion, is strongly in favor of passing Proposition A.
“We have owned this land for almost 50 years and are as excited about its potential today as we have ever been,” Kleinert told the outlet. “Proposition A…will generate millions of dollars of tax revenue and create thousands of new jobs.”
Developer Matthews Southwest, which owns more than 14 acres on each side of the interstate for development near the convention center, said the proposed redevelopment would help unite the neighborhoods on the near south side of downtown with the city’s center.
“The old convention center has been a barrier to South Dallas for a long time,” Matthews Southwest president, Jack Matthews, told the outlet. “This will be a great catalyst to the changes coming to downtown and Southern Dallas.
Demolishing the old convention center would also free up more space for new construction. Jennifer Scripps, president of Downtown Dallas Inc., said this is a rare opportunity to make way for new developments.
“An investment of $1.5 billion in that area of downtown and freeing up that acreage will transform downtown,” Scripps told the outlet.
Construction on the project could begin as early as 2024.
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