Dallas Will Auction Downtown Property Overrun by Squatters at 711 S. St. Paul

The City of Dallas has had a rocky road lately with Family Gateway, an emergency shelter and resource center for the homeless — or more accurately, the downtown building that formerly housed Family Gateway and their new location, too. 

Last fall, the nonprofit organization returned the city-owned property at 711 S. St. Paul St. in sparkling and secure condition, but had its name dragged through the mud when Dallas officials discovered the “old Family Gateway building” as identified in headlines had been vandalized and overrun with squatters.

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Family Gateway CEO Ellen Magnis said at the time the negative publicity was causing harm to the nonprofit which relies on donations. They’d left the downtown building in pristine condition and set up shop in Far North Dallas, where operations were going great. 

But now it seems the city has also neglected Family Gateway’s new building. Delays in fixing a roof leak and water damage from a May 28 storm led to a widespread mold issue, forcing the center to temporarily shut down its childcare facility.

‘Unwanted and Unneeded’

Officials with the Office of Homeless Solutions took a scolding during a Monday meeting of the City Council’s Government Performance and Financial Management Committee. On Wednesday, the City Council voted to sell the old vacant property at 711 S. St. Paul.

Following a closed-session discussion on Wednesday, the Dallas City Council voted to sell the property at St. Paul and Marilla streets, located in the shadow of City Hall. The adopted resolution declares the land tract containing 17,646 square feet “unwanted and unneeded,” authorizing its advertisement for sale by public auction. 

Councilman Jesse Moreno, who represents the downtown area that includes South St. Paul Street, attempted to amend the resolution so the successful bidder would have to cover the costs of demolition. Moreno advocated for immediate demolition, but Councilman Paul Ridley, who also represents a portion of downtown, amended Moreno’s amendment to include a two-tiered approach that would allow bidders to submit proposals on how much they would pay for the site “as is” and a separate quote for just the land if the building were removed. Ridley’s amendment prevailed. 

“We don’t need to do any market analysis; bidders will do that for us,” Ridley said. “We’ll get the opportunity to select what our highest return is either by selling the building with the property or demolishing the building and selling it without that property. And it’s all done in one fell swoop.”

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The property is valued at $2.4 million, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District. It appeared that most council members agreed demolition is inevitable. Interim Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley, who oversees economic development, said a one-story building is not the highest and best use for that site. 

“This is a building that has become a magnet for activity that’s not desirable in any neighborhood,” Moreno said. “As we continue to develop the south side of downtown Dallas, it’s imperative that we have a clean and safe environment … We keep talking about density. We keep talking about how we want to be more resourceful. This is just not the best use for that area. I believe that anyone who comes in is going to demolish the building. What I don’t want to see is for the building to continue to be vacant and have another incident of vandalism happening.”

The property will be advertised for a 30-day period in September and the sale is anticipated in October. 

Moreno said after Wednesday’s meeting that he was disappointed in the City’s failure to leverage prime property in the center of downtown by not demolishing it.

“This property in my district has become a nuisance property, is owned by the City, and would likely have been demolished had it been a private property facing similar circumstances,” he said.

Current Family Gateway Facility 

Back to the Family Gateway’s current building on Preston Road in Far North Dallas — In an Aug. 23 memorandum, Assistant City Manager Alina Ciocan acknowledged the damage from the May storm and said city staff was awaiting an insurance adjuster’s authorization to begin roof repairs. 

Office of Homeless Solutions Director Christine Crossley said Monday that mold remediation is underway in the downstairs area where the childcare facility is housed and they’ll begin working on the second floor once that’s complete. 

“We expect it to all be repaired fairly quickly,” she said. 

The city was notified of the leaky roof on June 3, assessed the damage on June 28, and made repairs on July 3 and 5.  At that point, the vendor recommended that the roof be replaced. Water damage was reported on June 26, Crossley said, and mold was reported on July 25. The city started working on the mold immediately but paused so the Office of Risk Management could get involved. 

District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, who represents the area where the new Family Gateway operations are housed, said she was embarrassed and disappointed by how the matter was handled. 

“You went out and repaired a roof that actually needed to be replaced,” she said. “The repair was so insufficient that water continued to leak into the building. They notified the city multiple times. It’s almost three months later and they still have a leaking roof.” 

Family Gateway raised $3 million during a capital campaign to upgrade the building, a former hotel, for occupancy, Mendelsohn said. The city owns the building, however, and there was some confusion Monday about where the responsibilities lie due to a contractual obligation with the tenant, Family Gateway. Delays were also caused by having to bring in risk management and file insurance claims, city officials said. 

“I’m super frustrated that we knew that roof needed to be replaced,” Mendelsohn said. “We didn’t replace it. We damaged the building, and now we’re going to pay for it … There are people who are homeless that aren’t being housed now. There’s an entire daycare and preschool and aftercare that isn’t able to be used.” 

Contingency funding is available, or a special meeting could have been called to address the emergency, Mendelsohn maintained. 

“I’m embarrassed to be part of a city that didn’t take care of this roof for a homeless shelter that we worked so hard to get going and is doing such a fantastic job,” she said. “It’s not been a good use of our taxpayer money to now have to repair and replace.” 

Councilman Chad West, who chairs the Government Performance and Financial Management Committee, said it’s not like the building was a vacant storage facility. 

“This is where families in desperate situations are living,” he said. “For it to take two or three months to get this resolved is pretty terrible.”