Dallas City Council members question consultants over City Hall report’s repair estimates

The fight over Dallas City Hall shifted Monday from how to fix it to whether to leave it.

As supporters filled the chamber wearing “Save Dallas City Hall” pins, the chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee signaled that city staffers may be directed soon to explore leasing options.

Council member Chad West called past patchwork repairs “irresponsible and unacceptable” and said the city must choose between fully funding decades of deferred maintenance at City Hall or consider moving.

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The committee began its review of a new consultants’ report estimating that urgent repairs would cost about $329 million and that fully modernizing the building could exceed $1 billion over 20 years, including financing.

The assessment described a building that is “structurally aging,” with mechanical, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems operating beyond their intended lifespan.

West said a resolution is expected to be introduced to the council committee for the city manager to review leasing options and return with pricing and financing details, formally expanding the options under consideration beyond renovation.

“Wherever one falls in staying or moving, whichever camp you’re in, I believe that the resolution will help all of us gather the facts we need to see the full financial picture to make an informed decision when the time comes,” he said.

The report has intensified friction between downtown business leaders who say the prime site could be redeveloped if City Hall relocates and preservation advocates who say the I.M. Pei landmark remains a defining civic structure worth saving, even at a high cost.

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West acknowledged that council members “are being pressured,” hearing from civic and business leaders, preservationists, neighbors and even city staff, each pushing their own priorities.

Council members must “look past emotions and past personal interest and choose a path forward that is fact-based and will give our city and downtown the best shot for a successful future,” he said.

At City Hall, before taking council members’ public comments, the committee went into executive session, conferring privately while a large crowd waited for members to address the billion-dollar question in open session.

Among them were architects, preservationists and residents who have urged the city to restore the iconic Brutalist building.

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Sarah Crain of Preservation Dallas, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of historic buildings and neighborhoods, said she was frustrated that part of the discussion took place behind closed doors and called the $1 billion estimate “shocking.”

She noted that $329 million is tied to maintenance and repairs, yet much of the public conversation has centered on leasing elsewhere rather than fully evaluating renovation.

“It doesn’t feel like we’ve had an opportunity to really have that conversation,” Crain said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations about abandoning this site.”

She said she welcomed a slower timeline but stressed the need for transparent, unbiased analysis before any multibillion-dollar commitment.

Many people in the crowd wore a large, round, blue pin with white letters that read, “Connect the Core.” Noa Dowl was one of them.

He said the pin represented the people who support the connection between the Trinity Groves area and the southern part of the city. Dowl said the city should invest the money that would be spent on repairing City Hall to connect these areas instead.

Speaking to the committee, Linda McMahon, CEO of the Dallas Economic Development Corp., which managed the building’s assessment report, called its two-month review the “most thorough, transparent and technically defensible” evaluation of City Hall since it opened in the late 1970s.

She said the building is “structurally aging,” with major systems beyond their intended lifespan after years of temporary fixes.

“This is not about sentiment, it is about stewardship of taxpayers’ money,” McMahon said, adding that developers have shown interest in alternative spaces, but warned those opportunities may not last.

Separately Monday, Mayor Eric Johnson told the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce that downtown must evolve with more housing, mixed use projects and new attractions.

“We’re going to have to have a conversation here very soon and make a decision very soon about what we want downtown to be,” he said, adding that if leaders want a more residential, more fun district, they must consider sites for arenas and concert halls.

Staff writer Aria Jones contributed to this report.

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