The Dallas City Council voted Wednesday to formally explore alternatives to the current City Hall building, with City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert set to present options to council members early next year.
The decision launches a process that supporters argue is simply about gathering information and exploring possibilities, not committing to any specific outcome for the nearly 50-year-old building, which faces repair costs estimated between $152 million to more than $345 million.
“There are a lot of questions about City Hall,” said council member Chad West, who described the vote as not being about moving from or staying in the downtown seat of Dallas city government, “and we are not going to get those answered unless we have the evaluation that the city manager has promised us.”
Opponents fear the process could be a step toward justifying the demolition of the iconic but neglected structure. Many worry the land could eventually be repurposed for uses they say are less meaningful, like a new arena for the Dallas Mavericks.
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Council member Paul Ridley asked his colleagues to focus first on analyzing the current City Hall.
“It is not necessary at this point in time to assess real estate options and talk to every downtown landlord about moving into their buildings. There is always going to be time to do that,” Ridley said. “Doing that now is wasted effort, when what we need to do first and foremost is to assess the true condition of City Hall and the cost to repair.”
City Council member Paul Ridley tells fellow members he is confident that the cost of repairing this building can be done reasonably during a Dallas City Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, at Dallas City Hall. Ridley proposed an amendment to the resolution, directing the city manager to obtain a current facility condition assessment of the building and report the findings to the finance committee.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
The City Council voted 12 to 3 to move forward with the plan, with council members Ridley, Paula Blackmon, and Cara Mendelsohn voting in opposition.
Motions by Ridley to include stipulations that would have required city officials focus primarily on getting an independent facility condition assessment of City Hall before considering relocation and required creating a task force of at least five residents for additional review of findings failed to get a majority of City Council support.
Ridley expressed confusion with the speed of this process, pointing out that the council held three committee meetings since Oct. 21 before voting Wednesday on a decision that could shape how Dallas governs and connects with its residents.
Ridley acknowledged that City Hall needs repairs and modernization after decades of deferred maintenance. But he called the current push to relocate premature, especially since the city lacks clear, reliable information. He highlighted the dramatic jump in repair cost estimates—from $54 million in June 2023, with no clear explanation for the increase.
“We can’t take these numbers seriously because they are not serious numbers,” Ridley said.
An exterior view of Dallas City Hall at sunset in downtown Dallas, November 4, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Dallas Mavericks officials have expressed interest in moving from the American Airlines Center by the time their lease is up in 2031. They have not named any specific sites they want to move to.
Under the approved resolution, city officials must first assess the office space needs for all departments currently located in City Hall, the Oak Cliff Municipal Center, and other major city facilities. They are also required to review available office spaces for lease or purchase throughout Dallas.
City officials must compare the costs of leasing, buying, or building new office space versus repairing City Hall, and bringing in outside experts to review the city’s deferred maintenance cost estimates. City officials also have to find new locations for non-office functions currently at City Hall, like the 311 and 911 call centers, data centers, emergency operations, ceremonial spaces, and City Council chambers. City officials have to report their findings to the council’s finance committee by February 2026.
Finally, the resolution requires city officials to study how redeveloping the City Hall site could boost the local economy. Any new development must align with the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Master Plan, a downtown revitalization strategy that includes building a more than $3 billion convention facility, and Fair Park improvements.
The evaluation must ensure the project increases city tax revenue and spurs growth in the central business district and southern Dallas. It must also include a market study to determine the best uses for the site, its potential economic impact, and the land’s value.
The decision comes amid ongoing debate about the future of Dallas City Hall, a nearly 50-year-old, I.M. Pei-designed landmark that has faced decades of deferred maintenance. City staff estimate repairs could cost over $345 million, with issues ranging from water infiltration and structural repairs to HVAC upgrades and ADA compliance.
An interior view from the 2nd floor of the Dallas City Hall front lobby, November 4, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Earlier this year, the city’s Landmark Commission started the process to designate City Hall as a historic landmark, which temporarily blocks significant changes to the building, like demolition, for two years without the commission’s approval. Ultimately, final approval of whether City Hall becomes a city landmark rests with the City Council.
Residents have also voiced strong opinions. A petition to “save Dallas City Hall” has gathered over 3,580 signatures as of Wednesday evening, and many spoke out during a recent preservation meeting, highlighting the building’s cultural and symbolic significance.
Of nearly 30 people who spoke to the City Council about the resolution before the vote, nearly all of them opposed demolishing or abandoning City Hall, calling it an iconic, irreplaceable feature of the city and the heart of Dallas. Many expressed distrust in the city’s repair cost estimates, accused the city of prioritizing private interests over the public good, and demanded an independent, professional assessment before any decisions.
Marcel Quimby called the idea of abandoning City Hall “reckless” and “unfathomable.” She argued that demolishing the building would damage the city’s reputation.
“If your antique car needs repair, instead of repairing it, do you take it to the demo yard and have it crushed?” she asked. “No, you don’t. You fix it.”
Melanie Vanlandingham called the resolution “deeply flawed” and accused the city of using inflated repair costs to justify selling the land to developers.
She demanded an independent evaluation, public transparency, and town halls before any decisions.
“This is a rushed job, exceedingly irresponsible,” she said. “It is an abuse of public trust.”
Not everyone called on the City Council to pump the brakes on evaluating alternative options.
Evan Sheets, representing Downtown Dallas Inc., said he believed it was “responsible and pertinent” to evaluate City Hall’s needs and it was important to make sure the building, or whatever replaces it, fits well with downtown’s future, working alongside public and private development plans in the area.
“We applaud this council for calling for staff to perform this additional due diligence that will allow for grounded assumptions and provide policy makers and the public with factual information to guide future decisions,” he said.
Harrison Blair, president and CEO of the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce and a city park and recreation board member, argued that nostalgia shouldn’t override practical concerns. He suggested that the money needed for City Hall repairs could be better spent on neighborhoods and people rather than a building.
“Things change. Communities change,” Blair said. “And if anything is the soul of the city of Dallas, it’s the people that we should be worried about protecting and securing, not a facility that may be hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs.”