Dallas Convention Center Update Enters Next Phase as Council Considers $1B Bridge Loan
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Dallas City Council will be getting a much-anticipated update on the redevelopment of Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on Wednesday, a project officials hope will help revitalize downtown and maintain the city’s status as a top-tier convention destination.
The project is now entering its “full design phase” following the deal struck between officials and local developer Ray Washburne, who agreed to sell the city part of the old Dallas Morning News campus on Young Street so planners can implement the rough footprint design unveiled at a community meeting in April.
Next steps include public meetings and workshops to gather public feedback that will inform the final design of the project, which is estimated to cost between $3.3 billion and $3.5 billion. Efforts will also be undertaken to ensure that subcontractors hired to work on the project include M/WBE businesses, according to a staff presentation linked to Wednesday’s city council agenda.
Work to advance the project, however, looks to be getting ahead of its funding sources. The presentation notes that staff want council members to authorize a bridge loan of up to $1 billion because bond dollars committed to the project won’t become available until next year. Money from the loan would also go toward convention center preparations for FIFA World Cup 2026.
Staff say the loan would allow the city to “reduce interest costs from first tranche [of financing], have a line of credit to be able to enter into contracts, and have access to cash to pay vendors,” according to the presentation.
Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is slated to play host to FIFA’s International Broadcast Center for the tournament games scheduled in D-FW. As many as 5,000 journalists and media personnel will be setting up shop in the building next summer.
It’s unclear how the loan will figure into projected costs associated with the convention center’s redevelopment, but officials are betting on big payoffs from both the World Cup and the revamped convention center, which is expected to debut in 2029.
Staff’s presentation shows some 1.44 million square feet of “sellable space” between the planned ballroom, meeting rooms, and exhibit hall after expansion. The current square footage of those spaces in the existing structure totals less than 880,000.
Dallas ranked fourth in Cvent’s list of top meeting destinations in 2024, behind only Orlando, Las Vegas, and Nashville. Still, officials have expressed concern over the lack of walkable dining and retail around the convention center. The area also lacks connectivity to other parts of the city, limiting the potential economic impact of existing convention center operations.
While maintaining the convention center’s attractiveness as a destination for big gatherings is a priority, officials hope the redevelopment will spur further transformation downtown and help bolster the city’s flagging standing as a tourist destination more broadly. Axios published a report earlier this month noting that some 80% of visitors last year came to Dallas for a meeting or convention. In other words, only around 20% of visitors chose for themselves to come to the Big D.
