Casino Resort Clears First Zoning Hurdle in Irving
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Officials in Irving have signed off on a couple of zoning changes that could lay the groundwork for a potential casino in D-FW.
Early Tuesday morning, members of the Irving Planning & Zoning voted 5-4 in favor of rezoning a 1,001-acre planned unit development (PUD) district located at the convergence of State Hwy 183, State Hwy 114, Loop 12, and Spur 482 to allow for high-intensity mixed-use.
Rezoning of two particular tracts of land within that PUD district from transit-oriented mixed-use to high-intensity mixed-use also passed in a 5-4 vote.
In 2023, Las Vegas Sands Corporation bought roughly 260 acres of land valued at around $36 million in the PUD, right by the old Texas Stadium site, and it has made no secret about its desire to develop a destination resort with a casino, Dallas Business Journal previously reported.
Despite an existing state ban on casino gaming in Texas, Sands has been working to set the stage for such an operation in the event lawmakers end up having a change of heart.
Plans for the resort reportedly include a minimum of 1,750 hotel rooms and either an indoor theater with no fewer than 4,000 seats or an arena with no fewer than 15,000 seats, per WFAA.
Other permissible uses green-lit by the rezoning include restaurants, a food truck park, indoor recreation, an athletic training facility, and a heliport/air taxi pad.
Local Residents Fear Spikes in Social Ills
The project has drawn considerable opposition from Irving residents who have been attending city council and commission meetings to voice their concerns about the possible consequences of a casino operating in town.
A town hall meeting for Sands to present its plans to the community was held last week at the Irving Convention Center. The meeting was packed with protesters who claimed a casino would lead to increases in crime, gambling addiction, and drunk driving.
They called on commissioners to remove casino gaming as a possible use in the rezoning proposals but ultimately to no avail.
Approval of the zoning changes occurred around 2:30 a.m. after several hours of public input. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Irving City Council is slated to consider the zoning changes on Thursday, March 20.
Dallas Kicks Into Gear to Keep Mavs
Folks in Dallas are also concerned about the project, although not for the same reasons.
The Dallas Mavericks’ lease at the American Airlines Center is set to expire in July 2031, and the team is majority-owned by billionaire Miriam Adelson, who along with members of her family, also maintains the majority stake in Sands.
Speculation has been swirling over the inclusion of a big arena in the resort plans and whether it portends the end of the Mavericks in Dallas proper.
However, there has been worry over the Mavs leaving ever since Adelson bought the team in 2023, with rumors circulating that the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson would make a power play to relocate the franchise to Las Vegas.
Miriam’s son-in-law and Sands COO Patrick Dumont has emphatically denied the rumors.
“The Dallas Mavericks are not moving to Las Vegas,” Dumont told The Dallas Morning News last month. “There is no question in that. That is the answer, unequivocally. The Dallas Mavericks are the Dallas Mavericks and they will be in Dallas.”
If Dumont whispered “county” under his breath, that could mean big trouble for the Big D, which is still hurting over the likely departure of Neiman Marcus’ flagship store downtown. Losing the Mavericks would be a colossal blow to the city.
Dallas officials certainly seem to be taking the possibility of an exit seriously, publicly coming out this month to declare they were working with the Mavericks to keep them in the city limits.
A new arena has been on the team’s mind for a while now, and it’s working with officials to identify possible sites for the build.
“What we’re saying to the city is we want to exhaust every possible option in the city of Dallas before considering pivoting to another location in the Metroplex,” Mavericks CEO Rick Welts told DMN. “That’s our commitment. That’s our desire. That’s the outcome we want, to be doing this project in the city of Dallas.”
Welts said they’re looking for tracts spanning 30-50 acres and want to secure one within the next year.
