Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report, “State of Play,” which examines the suitability of key North Texas locations most likely to be considered as a potential home for a new Dallas Mavericks arena complex.
Civic boosters, landowners, developers and city officials hope the $3.7 billion convention center redevelopment is the shot in the arm that Dallas’ urban core desperately needs.
It may also clear the way for a new NBA arena and entertainment district— a project they call an economic gamechanger.
The refurbished and newly expanded Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center will be one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. The convention center is set to double in size to 2.5 million square feet with the expansion.
D-FW Real Estate News
It’s the latest in a series of changes the property has seen over the decades. The convention center began as Memorial Auditorium in 1957. The city added event spaces and renamed the Dallas Convention Center in 1973. Further expansions occurred in 1984 and 2002. Then, the convention center hotel opened in 2011.
Mavericks CEO Rick Welts told The Dallas Morning News the Mavericks are looking for a 30- to 50-acre site in Dallas’ urban core.
The NBA team is focused on two sites recommended by the city, but Welts has refused to identify those locations. The team hopes to select an arena site in early 2026.
Council member Chad West, the freshly minted chair of the council’s ad hoc sports recruitment and retention committee, did not say whether the convention center was a suitable site for the Mavericks. However, he said downtown would always remain the preferred location for the arena.
Dallas Mavericks first overall pick Cooper Flagg (left), looks towards head coach Jason Kidd, as he is officially introduced during a press conference, Friday, June 27, 2025, at the Mavericks Training Center in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
The Mavericks, he said, are a key identity marker for the city, and he is unwilling to lose the team on his watch.
“If we need to move mountains to keep them, then so be it,” West said.
Developers and city officials will tear down the old convention and free up over 20 acres of land between Young and Canton streets. If picked, the team will have several options for where to put the arena.
The NBA franchise could find close to the necessary 30 acres, likely to include the sites of Halls A, B and C of the current center. An arena complex could also be built on a current parking lot north of Canton Street, pass over Interstate 30 and cover greenspace near Cadiz Street.
There are also scenarios where the City Hall site could become part of the Mavericks’ entertainment district — depending upon the wishes of the city and the NBA franchise. The two sites could be linked.
The team could join the city’s other basketball franchise on the property. Closer to City Hall, the Dallas Wings will anchor the former Memorial Auditorium. Zoning for another a public use arena likely wouldn’t be an issue at the site.
Compared with the City Hall site, there’s more land to work with if the arena is placed near the convention center. It’s also closer to DART stops, public transportation and the city’s major interstates. The city also wouldn’t have to deal with historic preservationists who would object to City Hall’s demolition.
Gridlock and parking challenges from having multiple events on the same day down at the site could cause problems. One developer likened it to the logjams seen in Arlington when the Cowboys and Rangers have games on the same day.
According to plans presented to Dallas City Council in May, there are nearly 2,100 parking spaces currently at the convention center. The redevelopment will add another 2,100 spots, bringing the total to just shy of 4,200 at the site.
A worker is seen through the windows of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
Additional parking would likely be needed if the arena were built here, but lots at nearby office towers and other developments could be used for games.
American Airlines Center says it has over 5,000 parking spaces for guests. The majority of these parking spaces are located within two blocks of AAC. In addition, there are over 3,000 parking spaces to the south and east of the NBA franchise’s current home.
During a May City Council briefing, City Attorney Tammy Palomino said the city was working to acquire two other parcels of land for the convention center project.
Last month, the city filed a condemnation lawsuit against a firm owned by developer Ray Washburne. The city seeks to use eminent domain to acquire a parking lot between a parking garage and WFAA’s television studio near Young and Houston streets.
Jack Matthews, the developer overseeing the convention center rebuild team, declined to speak with The Dallas Morning News regarding the project and the Mavs arenas. Rosa Fleming, the director of the city’s convention and event service, did not respond to inquiries.
Officials envision the convention center as an anchor to redevelop a blighted part of downtown and the southern part of the city. A majority of the landowners and real estate experts who spoke with The News offered the strongest praise for the convention center site.
An arena would turbocharge the convention center’s economic impact, they said. Dallas would be able to land larger conventions that need a larger arena — events like a Democratic or Republican National Convention. There are hotels nearby, and even more development in the area is planned.
One of the downtown’s largest landowners, Washburne, still owns portions of the old Dallas Morning News site, and he plans to build a mixed-use entertainment district there. The real estate developer previously said he would invest “at least $150 million” into the project, anchored by a roughly 200-room hotel.
This arena and planned mixed-use district — coupled with other planned downtown developments — could give the larger urban core a boost.
Portions of Dallas City Hall with a portion of the arena at he Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center seen in the background on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
Brian Bergersen says he’d love to see the arena at the convention center site.
The CEO and President of Spectrum Properties oversaw the multi-million-dollar revitalization of the Dallas Farmers Market over the last decade. The development spurred over $650 million of development around the property and added $20 million annual taxable revenue to the city, he said.
The arena could bridge the gap between the convention center and the farmers market, encouraging development in that portion of downtown, he said.
“From a strength standpoint, it would encourage people to come into that sector of downtown, not just visitors from the convention center but local residents,” Bergersen said. “I think that would encourage more residential development and other development to come down there and be part of like an ultimate entertainment district.”
Earlier this year, real estate experts offered several other potential locations, such as City Hall, the former Valley View Center site and land near the old Texas Stadium as possible locations for the new arena.
A suggestion to build the arena on the site of the Lew Sterrett Justice Center near Commerce Street and Riverfront Boulevard, however, is likely off the table. Nobody had contacted county leadership about the idea, Dallas County Administrator Darryl Martin told The News in August.
Dallas officials hired Hillwood Urban Services, a commercial real estate company, to research and suggest sites for a new arena and entertainment complex for the NBA team. That report has not been made public.
At the moment, the city is preparing parts of the convention center to host the upcoming FIFA World Cup’s international broadcast center and is housing the Black Academy of Arts and Letters at Fair Park in the interim while construction continues.
“Dallas has already gotten a couple black eyes,” Bergersen said. “I think it’d be very important for us to keep them — not only in Dallas but in downtown.”