City Hall’s future becomes early test in race for Dallas mayor

Michael Hinojosa chose City Hall as the backdrop last week for launching his campaign for mayor. But he stopped short of saying whether Dallas should remain in the I.M. Pei-designed building.

The former Dallas ISD superintendent said city leaders will decide its fate before the next mayor takes office after the November 2027 election. He said he favors an approach that is “efficient” and “honors the past.”

“They haven’t put much money in it, and you can’t talk your way out of things,” Hinojosa said.

He pointed to The Academic, an apartment complex created from Dallas ISD’s former 70-year-old administration building on Ross Avenue, as an example of how City Hall could be repurposed.

As the early race for mayor unfolds, Hinojosa and other candidates will face pressure to take a firm stand on one of the most complicated questions the city has confronted in decades.

The City Council is divided over whether to invest in repairing the nearly 50-year-old City Hall and keep government operations there or relocate employees to another downtown building and redevelop the downtown site. 

Residents across the city have flooded council meetings to offer their opinions. And voters will be asking candidates what they think.

Dallas Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, who opposes relocating City Hall, said in a social media post that “not taking a position” makes you “a non-viable candidate in 2027.”

“There will be plenty more candidates for mayor and the City Council seats,” she wrote. “Let’s see what they do.”

The debate is particularly relevant for potential mayoral contenders already on the council. They will help determine what happens to the building and be saddled with the political consequences.

The next mayor could inherit the challenge of funding millions of dollars in needed repairs or managing a move, along with facing tensions from whichever side loses.

That makes the City Hall fight a test of how candidates would balance fiscal discipline, downtown redevelopment and some residents’ attachment to a civic landmark.

Hinojosa’s record also invites scrutiny of how he would make that calculation. 

As Dallas ISD superintendent, he oversaw the recovery from a major budget shortfall, but it included laying off more than 1,000 employees.

City Hall gives him an opportunity to explain how he would approach another costly institution with years of deferred problems and attract and retain businesses downtown after several high-profile departures.

The same questions await the rest of the emerging field. 

Personal injury lawyer Ben Abbott, who is considering a run, has begun airing TV ads that present him as a civic leader who will “show up, listen and get results.” 

Council members Gay Donnell Willis, Chad West and Paula Blackmon, businesswoman Lynn McBee and developer and philanthropist Peter Brodsky are among those mentioned as potential contenders. 

The office itself also could change before voters choose the next mayor. 

Some local leaders are discussing an effort to put a strong-mayor proposal before voters in May 2027. Details remain unsettled, but that could shift some executive authority from the city manager to the elected mayor.

The outcome could determine not only how much power Dallas’ next mayor will have, but also who decides to run for the job.