The city of Dallas is home to many of the world’s best athletes and sporting facilities. Soon the list of these will grow as SMU, along with the city of Dallas and AT&T, will help in the remodeling of a 400-acre landfill just south of downtown in order to construct a new sports complex and golf course.
Mayor Mike Rawlings held a press conference Friday morning along with SMU President R. Gerald Turner and Ron Spears, AT&T senior executive vice president of executive operations, to discuss the potential of the new facility, according to smumustangs.com.
“[The complex] would serve as a powerful catalyst bringing economic opportunity to Southern Dallas and the Trinity project, potentially generating more than $32 million annually in economic impact,” Rawlings said.
Located next to the Trinity River Forest and between Loop 12 and Interstate Highway 45, land that is currently useless will hold an 18-hole championship course, a nine-hole short course, courses for youth development and practice facilities which will be used by the SMU golf teams.
“Having such a facility for the SMU men’s and women’s golf teams to play and practice would be a great benefit to our programs. We’re very proud to be a part of this proposed development and believe it bodes well for the future of southern Dallas,” Turner said. “We also look forward to the day when national collegiate tournaments, such as the NCAA Championship, are played in Dallas.”
While the city of Dallas plans on paying a maximum of $12 million to begin the project, AT&T will add an additional $2.5 million for a hike-and-bike trail and the potential of bringing Dallas the HP Byron Nelson Championship, according to WFAA.
“AT&T is excited to be the sponsor of the 2015 and 2016 Byron Nelson Championship, and if all the plans we are talking about today come to fruition, we hope the tournament will be the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship for many years into the future,” Spears said.
The HP Byron Nelson Championship is currently under contract with the Four Seasons resort and will continue to be held in Las Colinas through 2018. Dallas-based AT&T will assume sponsorship beginning in 2015.
Construction of the facility will begin in the spring of 2013 and is expected to be completed in early 2016. Cost of the facility is estimated to be between $20 and $60 million and most of the remaining funds will be raised by individuals and other Dallas-based companies, according to the Dallas Business Journal’s Candace Carlisle.
“The city has known all along that we’d need to clean up this land before anyone could use it,” Rawlings said. “I am thrilled that we have a proposal that would bring significant growth to our tax base in coming years.”
