The city of Dallas is seeking eminent domain on a tract of land adjacent to the former Dallas Morning News building to make way for what is expected to be a $3.7 billion expansion and re-orientation of the downtown convention center.
The city, in a statement of condemnation filed last week, said it could not agree with the owners on a deal for a 36,227-square-foot parcel of land along Young Street in downtown Dallas. The parcel is needed to make way for the expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, a city attorney said in its filing.
The land is located between WFAA's filming studio on the west side of the former Dallas Morning News property at 508 Young St. that is now owned by the city of Dallas.
The city of Dallas acquired part of the former Dallas Morning News property in a $45 million deal that changed hands in June, according to CoStar. The Dallas Morning News left the Young Street property in 2017 and relocated to its current Commerce Street location.
The Dallas City Council approved plans to spend more than $51 million to buy the entire vacant property, including the 36,227-square-foot parcel, to make way for the expanded convention center on the site surrounded by concrete, according to media reports. The seller, an entity tied to local real estate investor Ray Washburne, acquired the property in May 2019 for $28 million, according to CoStar data.
Now, in the statement of condemnation, a city attorney named several parties with some interest in the property, including a Washburne-affiliated entity called Charter Holdings.
The city could not agree with the owners on a deal for the property, a city attorney said in the filing. Charter Holdings did not respond to emails and phone calls from CoStar News requesting comment.
"The city made a bona fide offer to acquire the property from the property owner voluntarily," the filing said, with that offer on the tract between WFAA's filming studio and a nearby parking garage being more than $6.5 million.
"Further attempts to negotiate would be futile and to no avail," the filing said.