Mayor Johnson Wants to Build on Downtown’s Momentum, Bringing ‘Big Dallas Energy’ Into 2023

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson encouraged stakeholders Tuesday to keep building on the momentum of new development, revitalization, and walkable residential living in a pep rally of sorts at the Downtown Dallas Inc. State of Downtown event. 

Some might call it Big Dallas Energy. 

“My vision is more of what we’ve been doing but more success in doing it,” Johnson said. “It’s all good news about Dallas. It’s a national story.” 

Johnson spent much of his time during the gathering at Moody Performance Hall talking about Proposition A, an initiative to raise hotel occupancy taxes by 2 percentage points to fund $1.5 billion in renovations and upgrades to Fair Park and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas. 

“The basic idea is to re-orient the convention center where its opening is facing downtown,” Johnson said. “It will free up approximately 30 acres of land in that area. If we are smart about how to develop it, it could catalyze between $2 [billion] to $3 billion just in that part of downtown alone. This is putting jet fuel into already-incredible economic development for our city.”

The upgrades will draw residential and retail development, the mayor explained. 

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “This is a no-brainer.” 

Voters will decide on the proposition at the polls on Nov. 8. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 24. 

The investment represents an opportunity to “advance urban mobility, create connected neighborhoods, and provide a unique sense of place in our urban core,” said Downtown Dallas Inc. President and CEO Jennifer Scripps. 

“It will cost us, as local residents, nothing,” she said. 

Comeback City

Johnson was first elected Dallas mayor in 2019 and announced in September that he’ll seek re-election. Former Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa is a rumored potential opponent. 

“I’m motivated by the future,” Johnson said at the DDI event. “When I look at what we’ve been able to accomplish, even while being in a pandemic, over the past three-and-a-half years, it’s extraordinary.” 

Downtown is uniquely positioned to build a national profile, the mayor said, touting the move of global financial giant Goldman Sachs to a spot between Victory Park and Uptown, incentivized to the tune of about $18 million from the Dallas City Council. 

“This council is really committed to making sure we are able to compete with our surrounding suburbs and the rest of the state, and really the country, for all the really cool development opportunities that are out there,” Johnson said. 

In the past four years, Dallas has added $14 billion in new construction, he added. 

“This area is doing what it’s doing because of the people,” Johnson said of downtown Dallas. “We will things into existence in this city. This was a very deliberate act to create this arts district. The No. 1 park amenity in the city is an overpass. We made that up. We did that.” 

Dallas Business Journal publisher Ollie Chandhok pointed out that Klyde Warren Park, which bridges Uptown and Downtown, is now being emulated by other cities. 

Dallas has a unique role within the metropolitan region that encompasses a population of 8 million, Johnson said. 

“We’re the reason there is a region. Dallas is the heart and soul of the region,” he said. “Downtown Dallas is part of the argument for why Dallas the city is unique and special when people are thinking of relocating a business or relocating a family. You will never be better than the original Dallas. Because we’re not resting on our laurels and we’re always trying to improve, I love the competition. I don’t shy away from it. We have a silver bullet, and it’s downtown. You don’t have that skyline. You don’t have those historic hotels. You don’t have the Arts District. We are a legitimate, full-blown great American city, and you don’t have that in our suburbs.” 

Dallas is also resilient, Johnson said. 

“The majority of my mayoral term was in a pandemic,” he said. “If you think about what we were able to do with one arm tied behind our back, in a pandemic, in a recession, with tornadoes hitting Preston Hollow and 1,000-year flooding events, winter freezes, the George Floyd protests and social unrest, having to declare emergency after emergency … We’ve been through a lot. The U.S. Travel Association called Dallas the comeback city. We were the first to come out of the pandemic.” 

Survey Says

At Tuesday’s DDI event, Scripps presented the results of a downtown perception survey completed by about 1,600 respondents. 

Downtown has about 15,000 residents and $4 billion in planned and active development, Scripps said. 

“We have been the beneficiary of $8 billion in development in the last 25 years,” she added. “All of this investment has created an amazing smorgasbord of amenities in downtown. We are the envy of the country when you consider the greenspace that has been developed with four signature parks and more than 20 acres of green space.” 

The survey showed that the residential population is skewing younger, and almost half of the responding residents moved to the area within the past two years. 

“They came to Dallas during the pandemic,” Scripps said. “Unlike urban centers around the country, we did not empty out. Many of the restaurants and bars will tell you it was the residents that carried them through the pandemic.” 

Most survey respondents were concerned about the city’s homeless situation, something Johnson also addressed in his remarks. 

“We probably ought to have a more regional approach to dealing with homelessness,” he said. “The City of Dallas should not be bearing the brunt of a regional public health problem. The reality is a lot of the unsheltered or homeless, those are folks, in many cases, whose last known address is not a Dallas address. Dallas is the city with compassion and heart, spending millions of tax dollars when our surrounding suburbs are not doing it, and some of them are encouraging folks who need these services to come to Dallas, then they’re bragging about how low their tax rate is.” 

Overall, Scripps said, people love living and working downtown. About 69 percent of survey respondents said they were extremely satisfied with the city’s downtown.

“We believe that downtown is uniquely suited to be the face of our entire region and city,” Scripps said.