Dallas City Council considers redesigning Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center

Construction outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center has become a familiar sight in downtown Dallas since July 2025. Visit Dallas CEO Craig Davis said the city has lost $1.5 million every month in anticipated hotel tax revenue over the past year.

"Since that time, the city has lost $92 million in revenue," Davis said. "Since we closed the center in 2025, we've lost 3,000 associated jobs from not having a fully functioning convention center."

The price tag to rebuild the voter‑approved new convention center is more than $3 billion, but Dallas City Manager Kimberly Tolbert told City Council members in a memo Tuesday that a redesign is now on the table. The change would cost taxpayers an additional $597 million and push the project's expected completion from 2029 to 2030 or later.

"Then any potential delay past that is going to get exponentially worse," Davis said. "There's reputational damage that's taking place because we've moved groups that we had promised."

Community concerns slow viaduct work

The city planned changes to the Jefferson and Houston Street viaducts, which carry traffic from Oak Cliff to downtown, to accommodate an earlier design change to the convention center. But after community concerns were raised, work on the Jefferson side is being delayed, according to the memo.

"The redesign will continue to further delay the convention center, and we'll have to remove and relocate conventions from 2031 and beyond," Davis said.

Events already relocating elsewhere

Davis said the delay has already forced nine events to move and could push as many as 30 more to do the same in 2030.

The Dallas City Council is expected to vote next Wednesday on whether to redesign the convention center.