Reunion Arena is dead. Why are a few councilmen acting as if it's not?

The Morning News headline this morning — "Reunion Arena: Aging facility's future still isn't certain" — is both true and laughable.

It's true in the sense that the city council's economic development committee (fresh from committing $500 million in taxpayer funds on the convention center hotel) has apparently had enough time to revisit Reunion Arena during the past couple of weeks and didn't pull the trigger on the building's demolition at yesterday's meeting. It's laughable because Reunion Arena has been a "dead man walking" since the American Airlines Center operating agreement between the AAC owners and the city more than 10 years ago effectively gave the AAC a first right of refusal to snag every meaningful event away from Reunion, if the AAC so chose. (In a nutshell, that's why public-private partnerships are usually pretty one-sided; the "private" negotiators generally are simply better than the "public" ones, something that should be kept in mind as the convention center hotel deal progresses.)

Yesterday, the usual suspect (deputy mayor pro tem Dwayne Caraway) was quoted as whining: "I will not be one that will be strangled and be pushed into a move, and that's what I feel we are doing." He said the same basic thing on Channel 8's news report the other night, too. So he's imploring the city to "reopen" negotiations with Center Operating Company, the guys running the AAC, to change the agreement and reinvigorate Reunion Arena with events.

Center Operating Company's president, Brad Mayne, told the News politely that wouldn't be happening; Frank Poe, the city's director of convention and event services and a pretty sharp guy, said basically the same thing. So Caraway appears to be talking to hear himself talk: From a business standpoint, why would a private developer with a complete and total stranglehold on downtown large-venue entertainment want to give that up in return for ... nothing?

There has been talk over the years about turning Reunion into a casino, but that's still illegal. There was talk yesterday about turning it into a shopping center, but that's simply wishful thinking — who in their right mind would build a shopping mall downtown? The city-subsidized grocery store downtown isn't even making money. We could attach Reunion to the convention center, I suppose, and the $1 million Reunion loses each year could go under that facility's budget. But hey, isn't that still our bag of cash, too?

No, the city believes it will take about $5 million or so to demolish Reunion, and no one has been booking events there past June 30. You don't have to be able to read between the lines to see that city staff, at the earlier direction of the council, has decided that Reunion is a goner. And despite the talk and arm-waving, that's exactly what's we can expect to happen.

Comments

[Dallas]

So... It seems obvious to me. Demolish the Arena, build the Hotel in it's place. Walla.

[Desert Rat]

The solution is simple: the city is subsidizing all the downtown redevelopment, now they're going to subsidize tenants for the condos, they're going to go into the hotel business, why not go into the mall business, too???? Makes sense to me.

[Bev]

Is the actual reunion tower with the lights going too?! I hope not.

[Rick Wamre]

No, Reunion Tower isn't included in the demolition discussion; it just happened to be in the picture I found. I am under the impression that Reunion Tower is being renovated and should be open again soon.

[Michael Davis-Dallas Progress]

A clarification; the City Council suspended bookings for Reunion Arena after June 30th, it wasn't because of market conditions.

But let me ask pose this bigger question to y'all...So if Angela or somebody else that you like wants to fight the good fight try to win an uphill battle and see if something can be worked out, it's great. But if Dwaine or Ron Natinsky wants to do the same thing and make some sort of last ditch effort, then there some big problem with it and all of a sudden people are "whining." Why is that?

The next Econ Dev committee meeting is June 16. Is the world going to come to an end because it wasn't moved forward on Monday?

Double standard much? I expected more from you guys.

[Rick Wamre]

Michael, don't take it personally because I said Mr. Caraway was showboating on this issue. My point was that Center Operating Company isn't going to renegotiate its contract, no matter who asks (Angela included). If Dwaine has another legitimate, workable idea, it's time to hear it (same with Ron and the rest), but renegotiating with the AAC isn't going to happen. Personally, I think that if the numbers in the DMN story are true — Reunion bleeds at $1 million per year but will cost $5 million to tear down — the city should close the building but leave it standing. As a friend said while we talked about this very deal last night on the way back from the Rangers game, "Surely someone in the next five years will come along and figure out a way to reuse the building." That's the breakeven — bleeding a million a year for four to five years is roughly the same as tearing it down today. Heck, we could hide it in the new convention center hotel revenue bond money and we'll forget all about it. And leaving the building standing until the last possible minute is probably the most "green" solution, too, for those interested in that.

[Michael Davis-Dallas Progress]

Reunion is in a lot better shape on the inside than people think. I say mothball it or wait for a better market.

[Nathan]

It may just be my lack of vision (or imagination), but I don't see Reunion ever having the same nostalgia as the Cotton Bowl or the Majestic Theatre (or the Texas or Black Forest). And regardless of the politics and business deals behind the AAC that have left a bad taste in the mouths of some voters, it is a superior facility with better urban planning than Reunion. Unfortunately, Reunion will always be a relic of Downtown Dallas' darkest chapter.

[Rick Wamre]

A Reunion Tower update on a DMN food blog: Wolfgang Puck will take a supervisory role in the updated restaurant at the top of the tower, which is scheduled to open later this year. Here's the link:
http://eatsblog.guidelive.com/archives/2008/06/wolfgang-pucks-on-board-for-re-1.html

[Rick Wamre]

Another Reunion update, this time from Angela Hunt's blog: http://www.angelahunt.com/blog/comment.asp?bi=244