In two weeks, the Dallas City Council is expected to vote on whether to explore sites for a new City Hall.
While many council members have declined to share where they stand on this issue, at least two council members said they had reservations about the timeline if the vote occurs sooner rather than later.
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“What [City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert] told me is that the vote that they’re going to probably ask for in two weeks is for us to give them direction to go look at other options,” council member Chad West told The Dallas Morning News when reached by phone Friday afternoon, adding that city officials were anticipating that council members could provide direction based on numbers that are coming out.
Council member Paul Ridley said Tolbert was rushing to make a decision before the end of the year without disclosing why.
Political Points
“Nobody understands why it’s so urgent, but the city manager is pushing this,” Ridley said.
Discussions of City Hall repairs have been on the back burner for years. Most recently, city officials told council members that repair costs could range between $150 million to more than $345 million. Water leaks, damages to the foundation, structural issues in the parking garage, and outdated electrical and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, are among the list of issues plaguing the building. But the true cost of repairs will not be known until a full inspection of the building occurs in 2026.
The question on every council member’s mind, however, is whether the nearly 50-year-old building was salvageable after years of deferred maintenance.
In the first week of November, city officials are expected to present more data points and cost comparisons.
Just days ago, city officials presented three scenarios for City Hall’s future. Keep the building as is or repair the building. A third scenario involves looking for alternative sites to lease or build a new City Hall.
The spectre of what could be a consequential decision in two weeks didn’t sit right with council member Zarin Gracey. “I’ll be honest, I don’t like that,” he said. “I don’t want this to be something that feels like we’re trying to sneak something past.”
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The city’s original intent, he said, was to do the analysis and present it to the public. “But I don’t want to bypass those folks who have preservation concerns and art concerns and all of those, those things,” he said. “I hope that’s not the intent of this.”
Council member Jaime Resendez said he supports allowing staff to evaluate relocation costs and price points. “Doing our due diligence is essential to ensure we’re making responsible, informed choices,” said Resendez via text.
All but five council members did not respond to requests for comment sent via text, phone and email. Mayor Eric Johnson did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Tolbert.
‘Save City Hall’
While these discussions occur, there are also questions about whether the land the building sits on is suitable for a new sports arena for the Dallas Mavericks. City officials have expressed their desire to keep the basketball team downtown. A revamped Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is expected to anchor massive redevelopment in the area abutting Interstate 30.
There’s also widespread anxiety about the future of downtown itself, and a large part of that discourse is centered on whether AT&T will move its headquarters to the suburbs. The telecommunications company has been scoping sites around Plano, Frisco and Irving. But that may not bode well for a city that’s banking on maintaining its downtown as its economic engine.
Ridley, who has been resolutely against tearing down City Hall, and council member Cara Mendelsohn, in search of more information, are hosting a town hall Monday evening to gather public input.
“It’s very one-sided in terms of constituent opinion,” Ridley said. “I’m getting a ton of emails saying, ‘Save City Hall.’”
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn speaks during a Dallas City Council finance committee meeting at Dallas City Hall, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
Mendelsohn said she would reserve her comments until more information is available. In a meeting discussion last week, she signaled her support for staying in the building. She was concerned developers were driving the conversation about the future of City Hall and accused city staff of pushing to abandon the building rather than fixing it.
Council member Paula Blackmon said she was not aware of the vote expected to occur in two weeks. But if that is the case, she also wants an engineering assessment that includes real numbers and not “back of the napkin numbers.”
“Today, if I had to make a decision, I would not be comfortable making a very sound decision because I don’t have enough information,” Blackmon said.
Dallas City Hall opened in 1978 and was designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei. In March, the city’s landmark commission unanimously voted to begin the designation process for the building to be a landmark, further complicating the issue.