Dallas officials say Oak View Group is withholding key financial records after ending its management role at Fair Park last week, leaving the city without critical booking and deposit data as it takes over the historic South Dallas venue.
Parks and Recreation Director John Jenkins said Fair Park’s former day-to-day operators turned over event contracts last Monday and vacated the site the next day, but still hadn’t turned over access to the operating accounts as of Friday. Oak View Group collected deposits from event organizers for future bookings, Jenkins said, but the city has no idea where that money is or how much was taken.
Without the records, the city can’t verify balances, reconcile deposits or make sure organizers’ funds are accounted for.
“And so we have made a request to them to get that information immediately,” Jenkins told The Dallas Morning News. “This is the way it’s been for two years. It’s like pulling teeth to get information from them.”
Breaking News
Oak View Group, in a statement Friday, said any assertion by the city that the company is withholding information or obstructing the transition at Fair Park is “inconsistent with the facts.”
The company states that the parks department never asked to see Fair Park’s financial accounts before the handover. OVG said its staff answered all questions from city officials and “satisfied its requests for information” during a Sept. 15 meeting.
“However, during the transition meeting, when OVG asked about an account to which OVG could transfer certain monies after a final accounting from certain Fair Park accounts, the Park Department did not provide any account information,” the statement said.
The development marks the latest twist related to the management of Fair Park and comes a week before the 277-acre site hosts the annual State Fair of Texas, raising questions about whether the transition turmoil could affect the largest state fair in the country.
Earlier this year, the city commissioned an audit to assess the finances of the park. Jenkins, who has accused OVG of not making basic repairs at entities such as the Texas Discovery Gardens and Music Hall, said he wanted to understand exactly where and how the former operator spent funds.
City officials are also asking council members to tweak a contract to refurbish the Women’s Museum building for the Black Academy of Arts and Letters after OVG failed to repair infrastructure such as elevators and stairways, they said in a memo last week.
Officials said the initial scope of work was based on building integrity information provided by OVG. Dikita Enterprises, the firm selected to oversee the project, “has had to continually adjust and refine the facility assessment analysis, pivot to include items OVG Fair Park originally defined as ‘not in need of repair,’ and respond to situations wherein OVG Fair Park failed to complete tasks be as part of the OVG scope of work.”
The City Council is set to vote on a $469,000 funding request for repairs on Wednesday.
The State Fair of Texas is a nonprofit that leases the city property, and its annual event kicks off this weekend. Karissa Condoianis, spokeswoman for the organization, said city park officials have ensured a smooth transition at Fair Park. She said the nonprofit isn’t aware of any major issues affecting its operations or vendors due to the city’s takeover.
“We’re focused on final preparations and look forward to welcoming everyone to opening day of the 2025 State Fair of Texas,” Condoianis told The News.
Dallas officials in June ended the city’s contract with the nonprofit management group Fair Park First and OVG360, which the nonprofit had hired as the day-to-day operator. The separation followed a 2022 audit that revealed $5.7 million of restricted private donor funds were improperly spent on park operations.
The city owns Fair Park but handed over management of the venue to Fair Park First in 2019, which then hired OVG360, Oak View Group’s hospitality division.
Park Board President Arun Agarwal, who first highlighted the flawed relationship between the city, the park’s nonprofit manager and the for-profit company for more than two years, told The News he was surprised by Oak View Group’s conduct.
“Never in my business life have I seen this type of behavior,” he told The News Monday. He urged City Manager Kim Tolbert to watch carefully how the venue management company performs its responsibilities at the new Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
City officials and OVG executives have recently gone back and forth over the date OVG360 would leave Fair Park and whether OVG360 was falsely telling event organizers that their agreements with the city were ending, but the operator said it was simply notifying its licensees that OVG would need to transition all contracts to the city.
Jenkins sent a memo to the city’s Park and Recreation Board last week announcing that OVG360 staff had fully left Fair Park, that the official handoff was orderly, but they gave no access or information to Fair Park operating accounts or balances “despite being requested in advance.”