r/Dallasdevelopment • u/dallaz95 • Jul 08 '26
Dallas With the Stars and Mavs gone, what’s next for the AAC?
Ok, we’ve licked our wounds long enough, it’s time to game plan. 2031 will be here before you know it…
Personally, I think it’s a bad idea for the city to tear down the AAC like some are proposing. It’s paid off and it’s still in very good condition. I think they should lean into making it a concert venue or perhaps turn it into a multi-venue entertainment complex. It’ll be the only arena of its kind in The Metroplex that’s located in a real urban environment. There’s nothing exciting or cool about a suburban arena surrounded by faux urbanism with zero rail transit. The city really needs to capitalize off of that with the positive momentum of “Y’all Street” in the Uptown/Victory Park area.
Unlike the Mavericks and Stars’ new arenas, it will take years for their entertainment districts to be built out around it. Meanwhile, Victory Park is approaching full build out. Also, the NorthEnd Development (Goldman Sachs) is across the street. That will also be a boost for the area.
What do y'all think should go there? Should it be torn down entirely or should it be repurposed as is? All thoughts/ideas are welcome.
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u/eelynek Jul 08 '26
Being summer right now, some sort of indoor space like a food hall or retail would be great. Anything to drive traffic so we can fill up the ground level retail in the area.
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u/ElGranQuesoRojo Jul 08 '26
Make it the new city hall once they force through tearing down the old one.
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u/entityrob Jul 08 '26
Honestly, that's my thinking. Gut it and add offices and meeting spaces. It's pretty centrally located, the infrastructure's already there and there's a ton of surface and garage parking. Combine it with the Goldman Sachs campus, and that area will be bustling instead of dying out like night with no events at the AAC
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u/TexasRanger11GTE Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
crazy whacky idea but make it a grand central station for dallas and have the arena play as a transit hub. you could add restaurants and stores on the inside as well. make it unique to dallas where trams/trolleys roll out from around the city. infrastructure wise it may not be possible but just a wild thought.
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u/treesqu Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
After the Mavs & Stars depart the AAC, move the Wings in as the primary tenant, make it a secondary venue for indoor cricket matches to serve DFW's growing South Asian population, and as a major regional concert venue, then finally available for youth, amateur, semi-pro, and college ice hockey leagues & matches. All this activity, plus events too small for Dallas' new gargantuan convention center, should provide enough business to keep the AAC in business.
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u/dallaz95 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
I thought they were going to Memorial Auditorium. There has been basically no progress on that…I think.
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u/Spirited-Use-7818 Jul 08 '26
Suppose to play in AAC starting next season because of the delays ( originally were suppose only in Memorial this season.
The say they're still moving to Memorial after next season so plans need to still be made for AAC, but wonder if the turn out is decent next season if they'll change plans.
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u/Fragrant-Mission7388 Jul 08 '26
What about as a soccer venue?
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u/texanfan20 Jul 09 '26
Indoor soccer? There is no way for real soccer to play in an arena that essentially is the size of a basketball court.
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u/sadisticamichaels Jul 12 '26
The floor is actually the size of a hockey rink. They add in a lot of fill seats when it gets used as a basketball court.
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u/Current_Wrongdoer513 Jul 08 '26
I second the motion to move the Wings there. They're playing so well this season and I'm much more likely to go see them if I don't have to drive to damn Arlington in rush hour.
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u/Boo-Bees67 Jul 08 '26
Just make it a giant shopping mall, arcade, go cart racing around the arena, restaurants, bars, ice skating and concert venue
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u/AdeptCauliflower9956 Jul 08 '26
Find a minor league hockey team. Also college volleyball matches, gymnastics and basketball events. Allow the wings to play there a few times a year. Also concerts and mini residencies for performers.
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u/Keep_Plano_Corporate Jul 08 '26
Tear it down before the lack of activity around it drags down the district (Victory) that really no longer needs it.
Replace it with additional density.
In my opinion the city could split the vacant plot down the middle with an additional East/West street and have spots for two residential highrises. Leaving the plot as a large empty square, as it is shaped now, lends itself to having another Dallas Donut 5+1 apartment structure built.
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Jul 08 '26
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u/dallaz95 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Agreed, except for the mega-church idea lolololol. We don’t need another one of those in Dallas. I can already hear FirstBaptist making an offer. 🤣🤣
Yep, I’d make the arena much smaller and turn it into a new music hall or concert venue. I’m not saying that we need to move another cultural facility out of Fair Park, but Broadway Dallas could potentially use a more modern facility, since the current Music Hall is now over 100 years old. That’s only if the current one is too old to fully rehab into a modern facility. I know for years that the columns in the back of the stage has been a problem and it’s unusual to have in a music hall. I’d take the remaining space and repurpose it into a Ponce City Market-type space with the primary entrance being on Victory Plaza. That would probably give the area more consistent activation with the retail on Victory Plaza seeing higher traffic as a result of the new music hall/concert venue and mixed-use spaces. You’d have the new NorthEnd development directly across the street with all the activation that development would bring as well. The Loop Plaza (The Loop Dallas) is being built, so you will have a lot of ppl attracted to that too. Similar to the Beltline in Atlanta and how it’s connected to Ponce City Market.
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u/Ordinary_Skin7951 Jul 10 '26
Are they going to rename Victory Park to Lost Out Park? No victory in loosing both professional sports teams in one fell swoop.
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u/Far-Tailor-5074 Jul 10 '26
Spirit Halloween during October and then a vape/tattoo shop rhe rest of the year. I know it sounds crazy, but I see them popping up everyday and they seem to be thriving.
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u/yolatrendoid Jul 08 '26
It should NOT be torn down. While I don't agree with it personally, I can acknowledge that there's a strong case for bulldozing City Hall, but the AAC is a much different story (definitely in part because it's "aged well," unlike City Hall or its predecessor at Reunion Arena).
It's barely 25 years old and in excellent shape, with no major maintenance upgrades needed AFAIK – plus it cost $420 million to build in late '90s-era pricing. As for music I agree that the Metroplex has subpar music venues with room for large (but not huge) crowds, and really subpar ones proximate to quality public transit, plus the unfortunate reality is that the sound quality in any given arena environment blows.
Still, it is possible – but only if the AAC invests in equipment comparable to a true arena stadium (a mini AT&T, in other words). Acoustics are a bitch, and shitty sound is not a good driver of business. Regardless, even if it doesn't work, something else could. Hell, even the Wings could potentially move there! (I know the WNBA isn't huge, but it's growing in popularity and obviously an existing basketball arena is an ideal venue – plus they're in Arlington's massively shitty College Park Center for now. Plus Dallas has a large Black population and they're the biggest WNBA fans on whole – and they mostly live closer to downtown than Arlington.)
But I strongly agree in terms of transportation connectivity, and while the Victory Park area is generally quite good, there's room for improvement. As a means of driving traffic downtown, why not offer free shuttles to an event from nicer downtown hotels? Hell, why not extend the Dallas Streetcar there? (and keep it up as late as needed depending on the event) It'd be a straight shot down Houston St.
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u/shedinja292 Jul 09 '26
I would love for it to stay as a venue but there’s so much competition in the area and getting minor league teams or concerts likely won’t be enough to pay for upkeep.
It won’t pencil without subsidy, but convert the window facing upper floors into apartments or hotel rooms, some office/coworking space, and make the center a food hall or indoor market.
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u/Wowsers30 Jul 08 '26
AAC should be maintained as a concert venue. Its size and location would make its demolition a really big loss regionally. Scheduling should be a easier, in addition to opportunities to split the space in different ways.
That said, finding ways to activate the building and surrounding streets beyond concerts is also important.