NBA team want to tear down building created by renowned Louvre architect for $1bn development

The Dallas Mavericks have long yearned for an arena they can call their own.

For 25 years, the team has played downtown at American Airlines Center, where one NBA championship banner hangs from the rafters.

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The Mavs won their lone crown in 2011, a decade into their stay, and success that year was powered by Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki.

It’s no surprise, really, that the building they play in has since become known as ‘The House That Dirk Built.’

But the Mavs share their home with the Dallas Stars of the NHL, and CEO Rick Welts believes it’s time to move out.

Dallas Mavericks eye City Hall site for new arena

Welts has been vocal about building a basketball-only arena with a surrounding entertainment district to better serve fans, and wants to move out of American Airlines Center by 2031, when the current lease expires.

There has been speculation the team could leave downtown, and even rumors of a potential relocation to Las Vegas, which have long been rebuffed.

Welts has recently made clear his commitment to staying put, and the Dallas City Hall site has been touted for a new, 50-acre district.

“Dallas is what’s really important. Take away anything from today, our commitment is to do everything in our power to build this in Dallas,” he said during a sports economic panel last month.

According to The Architect’s Newspaper, Welts is expected to submit a proposal that entails demolishing the ageing city hall, to make way for a new arena.

Adjacent city properties would also be torn down to make way for the $1 billion district, which would include a new practice facility and corporate HQ for the Mavs, alongside the arena, hotel and retail space.

“We love the idea of the downtown site,” Welts recently said.

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Dallas City Hall was designed by world-renowned architect

The city hall currently stands in the Government District of downtown Dallas, and first opened in 1978, nearly 50 years ago.

It was designed by I.M. Pei, the award-winning architect whose other famous work includes the Louvre Pyramid, a glass-and-steel entrance way for the palace in Paris.

But his city hall design, which resembles an inverted pyramid, is ageing.

In early March, the Dallas City Council voted 9-6 in favor of exploring the possibility of leaving the building, and Welts has previously said that Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has suggested it could be a site for the Mavs’ development project.

“She told me that it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate City Hall,” Welts said, clarifying the discussions that have already taken place.

“And it could be that the city would have to consider moving out of City Hall. That really was the summation of our conversations.

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“We have the ability now to talk to the city about a potential framework of a deal.

“That’s something we hadn’t been able to talk to the city about before. That process is ongoing.”

If the team aren’t able to work out a deal to develop land downtown, it’s possible they could look to a site in North Dallas.

A self-imposed July deadline to choose a new arena site is fast approaching, and it appears the decades-old city hall building could soon be torn down to make way for the Mavs.

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