Dallas Mavericks To Purchase Valley View Mall Site For New Arena
The Dallas Mavericks are moving north but staying within the city.
The Mavs announced Monday that the team plans to purchase 104 acres of the former Valley View Center mall site along Interstate 635 to build a mixed-use district anchored by a new arena. The site was one of two locations Mavs CEO Rick Welts said the team was considering for the new arena in January.
“The Valley View site meets most of the criteria established at the outset of our evaluation process,” the team said in a statement posted to its website. “It is our goal to stay in the City of Dallas, and we believe this site provides the strongest opportunity to achieve that goal.”
The mixed-use district is expected to feature restaurants, entertainment options, public green spaces and family-friendly experiences in addition to the new arena.
Beck Ventures CEO Scott Beck, who owns most of the Valley View site, told Bisnow in November that an arena for the Mavs would work with the zoning already in place at the property.
“For twelve years, Beck Ventures has been honored to steward the Valley View property while working alongside the City of Dallas and North Dallas neighborhoods with the conviction that this site would one day anchor a transformation of our city,” Beck said in a statement sent to Bisnow.
“The Dallas Mavericks are exactly the kind of transformational partner this vision deserves, and we look forward to seeing them build a world-class basketball arena and entertainment neighborhood that becomes the northern anchor of a stronger, more unified Dallas.”
Anthem Development broke ground on a 4-acre project featuring 296 luxury multifamily units and 13,500 SF of retail space there in November. The mixed-use Premier at Dallas Midtown was announced as the first project in the Valley View site’s long-awaited redevelopment.
Most of the mall was demolished in 2019, though some of it remained standing until 2023. The site has been empty and on the market since then.
While Welts initially said the team would announce its new arena location by the end of March, he revised that timeline to after the end of the season, though the NBA Finals have not yet concluded. He said the team wants to open the new arena in 2031 when its lease at the American Airlines Center expires.
The NBA team has shared the American Airlines Center with the NHL's Dallas Stars for the past 25 years. The two teams had been in a legal dispute over the arena's future, though a judge recently ruled in favor of the Stars.
The Mavs moving out of downtown could help the case of those pushing for Dallas officials to repair its 47-year-old City Hall. The City Hall site was the other option for a new Mavs arena that Welts listed earlier this year.
A February report from the Dallas Economic Development Corp. said that renovations needed to fully restore City Hall would total more than $900M, though city operating costs could push the total past $1.1B over 20 years.
