Dallas could buy part of old DMN property for new downtown convention center, firm says

A firm overseeing the rebuild of Dallas’ downtown convention center says the city is considering buying part of the former Dallas Morning News property for the estimated $3 billion reconstruction project.

Jane Hope Hamilton, spokeswoman for the project manager, Inspire Dallas, told The News that her firm spoke to former DMN site owner Ray Washburnein January to explore a land deal.

“It’s important to note that these discussions are preliminary and ongoing,” Hamilton told The News. She said it’s not yet clear how much of the 8-acre campus on Young Street could factor into the new convention center plans and that more information will probably come during a March 6 Dallas City Council briefing.

News of the possible land deal comes after city officials revealed to City Council members last week that plans for the new convention center now call for moving the footprint of the building north onto Washburne’s property to avoid conflicts with Texas Department of Transportation’s plans to expand Interstate 30, Union Pacific Railroad tracks alongside the convention center, and proposed nearby high-speed rail connections to Houston and Fort Worth.

A map presented to council members during a Feb. 5 economic development committee meeting shows part of the planned replacement of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center sitting on an area of the former DMN property where a parking garage is located.

Rosa Fleming, the city’s convention and event services director told The News after the meeting that none of the buildings currently factor into the convention center reconstruction plans. She described the map as a “concept drawing.” She said the city plans to start soliciting firms for architecture, engineering and design work for the project in April.

Construction of the new convention center is planned to start later this year and end by 2028.

Washburne, a developer who bought the former DMN site in 2019 for $28 million, confirmed he was approached by Inspire Dallas, but he said a text message from a News reporter with a screenshot of the city’s new convention center footprint map was the first time he’d seen it.

“I’m open to whatever and seeing what they finally come up with because I think everything can be mutually beneficial at the end of the day,” Washburne told The News. “But I have to wait and see what the thing looks like.”

The site was The News’ headquarters from 1949 to 2017. The property’s market value as of last year was $23 million, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District.

Before the pandemic and city approval in 2022 to build a new convention center, Washburne had proposed redeveloping the old DMN site as an entertainment district with a boutique hotel and restaurants. He said he has put those plans on hold while the convention center project progresses.

“If they’d like to buy a portion of it, I’m happy to talk to them about that and figure out how it would fit in to what I do,” Washburne said. “If they don’t want to buy any of it, that’s fine with me also. Then I’ll go back to my original hotel and entertainment district design."

A new convention center is a centerpiece of the city’s redevelopment plans for a huge swath of downtown stretching from Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station at the southwest end of the central business district to the Dallas Farmers Market, a little more than a mile southeast. That area includes the former DMN building.

The convention center is planned to be 2.5 million square feet, about 500,000 square feet larger than the current facility, with more space for exhibit halls, meeting rooms and ballrooms. City officials say a new facility is needed to keep Dallas competitive in the tourism and conventions market and because the current building has nearly $1 billion in deferred maintenance costs.