Two firms have been awarded multi-million contracts to complete renovation work on the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas complex.
Architecture and engineering design firm Gensler has secured a contract worth more than $25 million to renovate and reconstruct the Dallas Memorial Auditorium. This project represents Component Three of the refresh of the formerly named Dallas Convention Center. Once complete, the Memorial Auditorium will be the permanent home of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.
KAI/Alliance, LC (dba KAI Design) was awarded a contract worth more than $22 million as part of Component Four of the wider project. The company will be responsible for renovating and reconstructing The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, the same venue that made headlines in early November last year when local singer Jada Arnell Thomas was shot while signing autographs on stage, as reported in The Dallas Express at the time.
The contracts follow the over $187 million that has already been awarded for projects like Component One, which includes a convention center expansion west of Lamar St.
The city plans to complete seven components in total.
The massive revitalization initiative kicked off last year after being approved by Dallas voters in 2022 with a price tag of $3.7 billion. Originally opened in 1973, the complex has already been expanded twice, once in 1984 and again in 1994.
Once complete, the current refresh will include 800,000 square feet of exhibit hall space, 170,000 square feet of ballroom space, 100,000 square feet of meeting rooms, and 2,000 parking spaces.
While the entire project is slated for completion in 2029, the center is vying to become the “International Broadcast Center” for journalists during the FIFA World Cup next year. To ensure eligibility, FIFA delivered several conditions that the convention center must meet, including repairing the roof and resolving climate control issues in one of the facility’s garages.