Downtown Dallas Inc. Celebrates the Pending Revival of Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center

When advocates lobbied in November 2022 for a 2 percent hotel occupancy tax increase to redevelop the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Dallasites were sold on the promise that it would bring much-needed economic development and tourism dollars and bridge a divide between downtown and southern Dallas. 

The measure, referred to as “Proposition A” and packaged with a massive renovation plan for Fair Park, passed with the support of more than 186,000 voters or 67.68%. 

Since then, the Dallas City Council has approved numerous contracts to move the convention center project forward. A groundbreaking was held in June and the $3.7 billion project will be finished in phases with final completion slated for late 2028. 

City Council Awards $71M Contract to Inspire Dallas For Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Remodel

The  Dallas Memorial Auditorium was designed by George Dahl in 1957. Convention center additions came later in 1973 and 1984 as the facility expanded to 2 million square feet and was renamed the Dallas Convention Center and in 2013, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas. 

The site has hosted the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Jackson Five, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, and the 1984 Republican National Convention. The convention center will reportedly serve as the International Broadcast Center during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was in attendance at last week’s Downtown Dallas Inc. annual meeting and has been steadfast in her support of the renovation project. 

Downtown Dallas Inc. Panel Discussion

At the Feb. 11 DDI annual meeting at the Omni Hotel Dallas, officials gathered to hear an update on the “KBH.” 

Downtown Dallas Inc. CEO Jennifer Scripps moderated an all-star panel that included Visit Dallas president and CEO Craig T. Davis, Dallas Director of Convention and Event Services Rosa Fleming, and Perkins and Will Dallas Design Director Ron Stelmarski. 

Fleming said she began working for the convention center in 2018 at the request of Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, who at the time was a deputy city manager. 

“They asked me to do three things,” Fleming said. “One was to create a better relationship with Visit Dallas, which we did immediately. We hired Craig. The second was to look at a management agreement for the center because — not that city staff was doing a poor job — we just didn’t have the connectivity, the access, and the capital … The third thing was to … look at the efficiency of the building.”

Fleming explained that the necessary efficiency upgrades came with an estimated $600 million price tag. Convention attendees said there was nothing to do in the immediate area so they had to take public transportation and attempt to navigate an unfamiliar city. 

“There was no connection to southern Dallas and it looked like the building was a block to development, that downtown ended there,” Fleming said. 

She toured 10 convention centers in seven days and determined that best practices dictate the ability to walk out of the convention center and immediately access retail and restaurants. Fleming said she wants to view convention attendees as people who might bring their company back to town or relocate a corporate headquarters in Dallas. 

With those goals in mind, Davis said a new convention center adds to the selling points that make Dallas a destination. 

“People want to do business in Dallas,” he said. “We’re set up for complete success, quite frankly, with the new building.” 

Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Master Plan

The new convention center will include: 

• 800,000 square feet of exhibit space
• 260,000 square feet of breakout space
• 170,000 square feet of ballroom space (including a 105,000-square-foot ballroom)
• A newly renovated arena and theater
• A welcoming entry and lobby with ample space for activations

The planned entertainment district will include an all-new walkable area, premier entertainment and restaurant experiences, and a multimodal station center, which will maximize public transportation to and from the convention center. 

“The expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas is more than the renovation or reconstruction of the convention center,” Fleming says in a statement on the convention center website. “It is an opportunity to re-envision downtown Dallas, reconnecting downtown to its southern neighborhoods and ensuring growth in the retail, restaurant, and housing sectors. In short, the project is a long-term economic development initiative for the city that will resonate for years to come.”