{"id":330235,"date":"2026-06-10T05:40:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/330235\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T05:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:40:22","slug":"plano-city-council-approves-using-700-million-in-taxpayer-funds-to-build-new-dallas-stars-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/330235\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano City Council approves using $700 million in taxpayer funds to build new Dallas Stars arena"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

At a Plano City Council meeting on Monday night, city leaders approved a non-binding letter of intent with the Dallas Stars to build a new arena at the Shops at Willow Bend mall site.<\/p>\n

The council approved using $700 million in public funding to build the $1 billion arena through taxes collected near The Shops at Willow Bend and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

We also got our first look at renderings of what the new Stars arena and entertainment district would look like.<\/p>\n

PLANO, Texas – City leaders in Plano took the first steps towards bringing the Dallas Stars out of downtown and into the North Texas suburb.<\/p>\n

Public funds for new Stars arena<\/p>\n

What we know<\/p>\n

Plano City Council approved contributing $700 million to help fund the roughly $1 billion Dallas Stars arena project at the Shops at Willow Bend Mall site.<\/p>\n

The council unanimously approved a tax increment reinvestment zone near the mall, with tax dollars collected near Willow Bend and the Dallas North Tollway used to back bonds.<\/p>\n

The City of Plano would own the potential new arena, and would enter into a 30-year lease agreement with the team.<\/p>\n

Also approved on Monday night was a plan to demolish Willow Bend. Plano agreed to grant around $15 million to the developer for demolition of the mall and the establishment of a visitor center.<\/p>\n

Demolition would begin in 2027.<\/p>\n

City leaders also showed off renderings of what the new arena would look like for the first time since the Stars announced<\/a> their intent to build a new arena in Plano last week.<\/p>\n

Another motion being considered would be establishing a venue tax, which needs Texas State Comptroller approval.<\/p>\n

Voters in Plano would have to approve any deal to fund the new arena.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying<\/p>\n

“I respect Mayor Johnson, but our doors are open,” Plano Mayor John B. Muns said on Monday. “We hope that all goes well, and the Stars will be here in ’31.”<\/p>\n

Muns is referring to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s comments last week at a Dallas City Council meeting following the Stars’ announcement.<\/p>\n

“The knives are out for Dallas. We have a serious, serious situation on our hands. We are in a very cutthroat competition. I’ve been saying this for years now, and I hope everybody who’s been watching the news this week understands that I wasn’t crying wolf like we are in a very serious competition,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n

“The wolf is at the door and the wolf is not in this room. The wolf is not in this room. The wolf is up the tollway.”<\/p>\n

“Plano has built a reputation as a city that welcomes world-class partners and community-focused investment,” Muns later said in a statement. “These actions are a significant first step as we evaluate the potential for a thoughtfully designed sports and entertainment district that reflects the priorities and values of our community.”<\/p>\n

The Dallas Stars released their own statement following Plano approving the redevelopment plan for their new arena.<\/p>\n

The other side<\/p>\n

During public comment, several Plano residents opposed the idea of using public funds to lure a professional sports team.<\/p>\n

“I understand the excitement of this project,” Gary Cary, a resident who opposes the arena project, said. “If we build this stadium, and they leave, we’re going to be in the same boat.”<\/p>\n

“This is nothing more than a corporate welfare scheme,” Jennifer Groysman, another resident opposed to the Stars’ potential move, said.<\/p>\n

City leaders cautioned that this is far from a done deal, and extensive conversations will be held in the years to come to address public safety concerns, an increase in traffic in the area, and noise pollution concerns.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Plano City Council meeting<\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

Plano will hold two in-person open houses at The Shops at Willow Bend to continue community engagement on the arena project on Wednesday, July 8 and Tuesday, July 14.<\/p>\n

A virtual open house will be held online from July 8 to July 22 at plano.gov\/willowbenddistrict<\/a> for those unable to attend in person.<\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

Information in this story comes from a Plano City Council meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief At a Plano City Council meeting on Monday night, city leaders approved a non-binding letter of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2347,19044,102,13124,1115,4376,160,18650,162,161,118004,28744,48287],"class_list":["post-330235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-city-leaders","tag-city-of-plano","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-north-tollway","tag-dallas-stars","tag-eric-johnson","tag-plano","tag-plano-city-council","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-stars-arena","tag-the-shops-at-willow-bend","tag-willow-bend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}