Dallas officials arranged tours of up to four potential City Hall sites for a handful of City Council members earlier this year, even though the locations were not disclosed to the broader council and public.
Internal emails reviewed by The Dallas Morning News show city leaders and consultants began discussing in December how and when to invite “a few” council members for the visits.
The News previously reported that the Dallas Economic Development Corp. planned to conduct tours between January and March. The emails provide a clearer look at behind-the-scenes planning as Dallas weighs City Hall’s fate.
Developer Shawn Todd, who has called for demolishing City Hall for redevelopment, was listed as an adviser for the city-affiliated group, which evaluated the building’s condition and estimated repair costs.
Political Points
Business interests have coveted the downtown site for redevelopment, including a possible new sports arena, while preservationists and some council members insist the city should repair and keep the structure.
The emails, part of a large cache of messages among city officials, consultants and others, likely will intensify complaints from opponents who say the process has unfolded largely out of view.
They say the debate is being steered toward abandoning City Hall before the full council and the public have been informed about steps underway. City officials have said in meetings that all their dealings have been transparent.
A city spokesman said Monday afternoon that he had no immediate comment. Todd could not be reached. Linda McMahon, CEO of the Economic Development Corp., told The News that Todd recommended two firms “with specific engineering specialties that we used. That was the extent of his involvement.”
The emails show planning among McMahon, Peter Jansen, an executive with commercial real estate firm CBRE, and City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert for visits to buildings that could house a new municipal complex or operations, such as the city’s 911 and 311 call centers.
Dallas Economic Development Corp. CEO Linda McMahon.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Early tour plans
In a Dec. 8, 2025, email, McMahon told Jansen that Tolbert “would like to be able to offer a few council members an opportunity to tour prospect buildings,” adding that the visits would likely happen in “January if at all.”
Jansen responded that tours should eventually occur but they had to be handled carefully to avoid giving certain properties or officials an advantage in negotiations.
“What we want to avoid,” he wrote, “is negotiating [between] options that have received tours and options that have not received tours.”
He also recommended council members and city staff tour the site after presentations to the council on initial findings, “PRIOR to down selection/elimination of option.”
On Jan. 8, Jansen emailed Tolbert and Ahmad Goree, her chief of staff, about the visits.
“We intend to spend 15-20 minutes at up to 4 locations that highlight notable responses or ideas after a 30-45 minute virtual preview and overview at our offices,” Jansen wrote.
On Jan. 20, McMahon emailed Tolbert “to discuss the council member tours and council presentation.”
McMahon wrote that it was important that council members, who were not identified, tour all of the properties the EDC consultants did.
“Otherwise it would damage the leverage that CBRE feels they need in negotiations with the short list properties,” she wrote. “If any property is left out of the tours — the others will know.”
Council frustration
Selective briefings and tours have fueled frustration inside City Hall. Several council members have complained they’ve been left out of key discussions about one of the city’s most consequential decisions, whether to repair the building or relocate entirely.
Specialists managed by EDC have estimated the building needs repairs between $329 million and more than $1 billion over 20 years for full modernization.
On Feb. 17, council member Cara Mendelsohn asked Tolbert about being briefed on the EDC’s findings before they were released publicly Feb. 20.
Dallas Council Member Cara Mendelsohn wore a Dallas Mavericks shirt to the Economic Development Committee meeting about the future of Dallas City Hall. She said she might as well address the elephant in the room. It’s the first meeting where residents were allowed to weigh in on the new Dallas City Hall assessment report at City Hall, March 2, 2026.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
“It is my understanding that members of the Finance Committee are receiving individual briefings, while the remaining City Council members will receive the information at a later date,” she wrote in the email.
“Providing substantive briefings to a subset of councilmembers while withholding the same information from others who request it raises concerns regarding equal access, transparency, and the integrity of the council’s deliberative process,” she wrote.
Tolbert replied that the request stemmed from a public comment that some council members were being briefed before the item was posted. The city typically briefs committee members handling the issue, “not the full City Council,” she wrote.
She added there was “not enough time between now and Friday” and that “there is nothing that makes it mandatory or a requirement for me to brief council prior to any public discussion.”
Last week, the council voted 9–6 to direct the city manager to study moving its emergency operations, dispatch and service call center out of City Hall while devising funding plans for repairing the aging building, staying there and relocating.
Email trail
The Dallas Morning News reviewed nearly 5,000 pages of emails exchanged over the past 12 months among city officials, consultants and others involved in discussions about the future of City Hall. The messages offer a behind-the-scenes look at the debate over whether Dallas should repair the aging building or relocate government operations.