Bazaldua: Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Remodel is Good For Tourism, But What’s The Actual Benefit For South Dallas?
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The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center project is moving from concept to reality, and while elected officials are supportive of the plans, the District 7 councilman urged tourism officials to stop touting the benefits to South Dallas and Fair Park residents — because, he said, there aren’t any.
During a Feb. 5 briefing of the Dallas City Council’s Economic Development Committee, District 7 Councilman Adam Bazaldua said highlighting the connectivity and economic development as a benefit for South Dallas isn’t accurate.
“We’ve got to get away from this language of saying that this is doing anything for South Dallas,” he said. “South Dallas is a neighborhood. Conflating that with The Cedars, or an extension of the Central Business District, I don’t know what we’re trying to accomplish here, but the reality is that this is not giving anything to my constituents in South Dallas. I think that it’s important for that to be articulated. I also think it’s important to look at what a missed opportunity this is to bring economic development to South Dallas.”
South Dallas is south of downtown, bordered by Trinity River on the west, Interstate 30 on the north, and the Great Trinity Forest to the south and east. Southern Dallas is considered the lower quadrant of the city, which includes portions of several City Council districts.
Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins, who chairs the Economic Development Committee and represents District 8 in Southern Dallas, echoed Bazaldua’s sentiment and added that when selling the convention center, tourism officials ought to also be selling The Cedars and Southern Dallas.
The $3 billion convention center redevelopment, along with major upgrades to several buildings at Fair Park, is being funded through a 2 percent increase in hotel occupancy taxes. Voters approved Proposition A in November 2022.
A full briefing on plans for the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas is slated for a March 6 Dallas City Council meeting.
Construction And Project Timeline
Rosa Fleming, director of convention and event services, promoted the KBH Master Plan website, which highlights progress during the implementation phase.
Before Councilman Bazaldua made his comments, it was clear that Fleming and others were pushing the narrative of the project’s benefit for South Dallas.
“We’re working on making sure that our connections to South Dallas are not just a physical connection with a park and an overwalk but we’re actually growing the community by investing, by encouraging entrepreneurship, job development, job creation, and workforce development,” Fleming said during last week’s briefing.
Dirt is already turning, and construction will continue through 2028, Fleming said.
District 6 Councilman Omar Narvaez said it was exciting to see the project come to life.
“The voters spoke and we’re here, we’re finally getting to design and to the issues that are going to come with this massive new building,” he said. “It’s a huge economic driver and impact for this entire area, but the connectivity that will happen for South Dallas is huge.”
Transportation Initiatives Related to Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center
Assistant City Manager Robert Perez said there has been “significant discussion” about the Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station being a transportation hub in the downtown area.
“We are continuing to look at the Dallas streetcar expansion as part of the convention center development to see how we can connect the M-Line trolley and the Dallas streetcar with the convention center loop,” Perez said. “We know there is some interest in expanding the streetcar beyond the central link, so as we continue to develop this plan we’ll look at those potential future expansions.”
Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said Amtrak has been invited to the March 6 council briefing to discuss high-speed rail plans from Houston to Dallas.
Bazaldua said South Dallas is also being left out in the expanded streetcar network.
“Here we are again with another monumental historic investment in our city and who gets left out?” he said. “I cannot emphasize enough that we’ve got a huge gap in our transit system … Please get to the drawing board and give this council an option to consider that’s going to break up these gaps, that’s going to address the disparity of where we have historically put investment. If we just continue to perpetuate the same, you know what I’m going to say. The results are going to be the same as well.”
