City Hall Roundup: How Dallas Ended Up Paying Half a Million Dollars a Year for Thanks-Giving Square Tunnels

Dallas Councilman Chad West is still following the money to find out why taxpayers are funding a truck terminal and pedestrian tunnels at Thanks-Giving Square. 

In an early September City Council meeting, West brought the subject up and received support from colleagues to remove an annual expenditure of about half a million dollars, tucking those dollars into a general fund reserve until more information became available. 

At the time it seemed no one knew how the 75-year agreement came about when it was brokered in 1973 through the Park and Recreation Department in the amount of $65,000. 

In a Sept. 23 presentation before the Government Performance and Financial Management Committee, Director of Facilities John Johnson acknowledged the expenditure has increased significantly over the years and said city officials are exploring options to “bring this operation closer to cost-neutral.” 

Thanks-Giving Square Tunnels 

Johnson explained that the Bullington Truck Terminal was created to centralize underground loading and unloading for four major buildings near Thanks-Giving Square. The city operates the truck terminal and an underground pedestrian concourse space, paying an annual lease that changes every three years. 

Operating expenses have hovered around $380,000 annually over the past few years. Johnson said the lease payment is around $425,000 and increased to $512,000 in Fiscal Year 2025. 

City staff is collaborating with those involved to determine how to address unrecovered expenses, better understand their needs, and assess the current utilization of the truck terminal, Johnson added.  

“Everyone has confirmed the truck terminal is crucial to their operation,” he said. 

Staff is also proposing to clarify code language to “document the City’s desire to operate these assets as cost-neutral as possible.” 

Next Steps For Bullington Truck Terminal 

Johnson proposed last month to update processes, factoring in all operating expenses into costs billed back to surface users. He suggested allowing a two-year phase to allow benefactors to budget for the increase. 

Staff recommends revising the city code to incorporate all truck terminal and pedestrian concourse expenses, including lease payments and operations, into the entire cost of service, which is billed back to four surface users, per the terms of the agreement.

West said he and his staff visited the truck terminal and it’s a massive operation. The City of Dallas owns and operates it, although it doesn’t seem like anyone knew that until recently. 

“We’re paying a lease to Thanks-Giving Square [Foundation] and what do we get out of that?” West asked. 

Johnson confirmed that the City has access to the third-level improvements of the truck terminal and has the right to lease and find tenants for concourse offices. One office is currently vacant. 

West asked to review the information again at the October GPFM meeting.

“I’d like to actually have a site map of what we have access to for the next 25 years, including the office space that we have to lease out,” he said. “We’ve recently asked the city manager to do a space study so we could try to consolidate some offices. We’ve got a dedicated 25 years that we are stuck with some of these properties. We need to be utilizing them, either for city staff or at least we need to be leasing them out.”