Chad West, chair of the council’s Finance Committee, says the visits were routine due diligence, but some colleagues say the tours left the full council in the dark.
By Everton Bailey Jr.
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
Dallas City Council member Chad West, a key voice pushing for a review that could lead to relocating City Hall, on Thursday defended undisclosed tours of potential relocation sites as key to evaluating the city’s options.
West said the council member visits, which were detailed publicly this week by The Dallas Morning News, were a routine step as the city weighs a generational choice of whether to repair the aging I.M. Pei-designed building or move municipal operations elsewhere.
The tours have widened a rift at City Hall between those who favor repairing the building and those open to relocating city government. They have also stirred criticism from some council members who say details about the site reviews have not been shared with the full council.
West, the council’s Finance Committee chair, said in an interview the tours were part of the city’s due diligence and council members remain free to meet with city staff or brokers to review the properties.
“We have a duty to the city, in my opinion, to either come up with a plan to fix City Hall and pay for it or to do something else for the government headquarters for the city of Dallas,” West said.
“Either decision is going to be hard. It will be a generational decision that will certainly create dividing lines where people stand, like it already has,” he said.
Routine fact-finding
West confirmed the site tours included Bryan Tower and the Comerica Bank Tower in downtown, Cityplace Tower in Uptown, The Epic in Deep Ellum, Founders Square in downtown’s West End and the former Sears distribution center in The Cedars. Red Bird Mall was also toured as a possible new location for the city’s 311 and 911 operations center.
West declined to confirm any others beyond those already reported by The News, based on a review of thousands of pages of emails among city leaders, consultants and others.
In those messages, and in interviews with The News, some council members said they learned about the tours only after they occurred. Some were frustrated by what they called another attempt by critics of City Hall to steer a decision toward relocation.
West pushed back on those concerns, saying the visits were part of routine fact-finding as the city evaluates its options.
“I believe everyone should have had the opportunity,” West said. “But I know that council members certainly can meet with CBRE or Kim (Bizor Tolbert) or her team anytime to talk about these properties and they absolutely should. It’s part of our due diligence in this vetting process.”
Specialists overseen by the city-affiliated Economic Development Corp. have estimated the building needs $329 million in repairs and more than $1 billion over 20 years for full modernization. It sits on valuable downtown land coveted by developers and defended by preservationists.
Speculation also is growing that the Dallas Mavericks could pursue the site for a new arena, though the team has not specifically named City Hall as a target.
Last week, the council voted to direct the city manager to study moving emergency operations, dispatch and the service call center out of City Hall while devising funding plans for repairing the building, staying there and relocating.
The site visits came after the city reached out to commercial property owners late last year for proposals on alternative locations, and real estate broker CBRE arranged the tours, West said.
Invites extended
West said he believed all seven members on the Finance Committee were offered in-person or virtual tours, though he was unsure if all participated.
Three committee members, Zarin Gracey, Maxie Johnson and Gay Donnell Willis, told The News earlier this week they did not go on any tours. Willis, the council’s deputy mayor pro tem, said she attended a meeting with CBRE officials last year to review proposals submitted by property owners.
Gracey reiterated Thursday he never participated in a site tour. He described attending a meeting with CBRE officials last year similar to what Willis said. Gracey said the information he received amounted to little more than conceptual presentations.
“None of that was taken seriously because I was shown some renderings and some possibilities, but there were no true ideas or anything concrete,” Gracey said.
The council in December approved a five-year, $781,250 contract with CBRE for real estate brokerage and consulting services. It has three, one-year renewal options that would increase the total contract to $1.25 million if the contract extends to eight years.
CBRE was one of several companies consulted by the Economic Development Corp. in its review of City Hall.
The ‘path forward’
West said CBRE and city staff are expected to give the full council a financial analysis of leasing options by the end of May. That will include both short-term relocation during repairs and longer-term scenarios for moving City Hall.
That presentation also will examine redevelopment possibilities around City Hall Plaza, such as potential arena proposals, mixed-use projects or housing that could reshape the area and generate tax revenue, he said.
Even if the council decides to remain in the current building, he said, City Hall would likely have to be temporarily vacated during major repairs.
“If the more fiscally responsible option may be to save City Hall than to move out, we just don’t have enough information for that,” West said. “The fiscally responsible path forward is to continue to gather information until we have what we need to make that decision.”
If the city wants to move any departments out of City Hall or build a new one, it will need at least 12 votes of the 15-member council, including the mayor, according to council-approved rules.
Email trail
The Dallas Morning News reviewed nearly 5,000 pages of emails exchanged over the past 12 months among city officials, consultants and others involved in discussions about the future of City Hall. The messages offer a behind-the-scenes look at a range of issues, including debate over whether Dallas should repair the aging building or relocate government operations.
Everton covers Dallas city government. He joined The Dallas Morning News in November 2020 after previously working for The Oregonian and The Associated Press in Hartford, Conn.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
