The Cost Gap Enigma: An AIA 10 Presidents White Paper

Read the opinion of 10 past and current presidents of AIA Dallas in this white paper.

Some claim City Hall needs $400 million for repairs. Is this supported by the historical record?

City Hall opened in 1978. The last comprehensive Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) was completed in 2018, when the building was 40 years old, along with separate plaza and structural studies. After 24 months of study, field inspections, testing, and other analysis, a multi-disciplinary team of architects, engineers, specialty consultants, construction professionals and others identified ~$37-39 million in total needed repairs.

Since then, the City of Dallas invested ~ $9 million, reducing the 2018 outstanding needs to ~$28-30 million (see table below). In 2024, $7.6 million was identified for generator work, of which $1.1 million has been spent, resulting in ~$34-36 million of documented outstanding needs.

*Plaza Waterproofing: Estimated at $17–19M by a specialty consultant outside the scope of the FCA. Recent staff estimate of $72–100M goes well beyond necessary waterproofing and structural repairs into a broader, still undefined program of plaza enhancements.

**Parking Garage: Assessed structurally sound (2018); targeted structural repairs completed. The recent staff estimate suggests replacement-level work, which isn’t supported by the record.

In 2018 a 2-year study determined $37 – 39 M of repairs were needed after 40 years of use, (~$1 M/year). Is it credible to claim, with little or no study, that +/- $360 M of wear and tear occurred in the last 8 years alone ($45 M/year)?

MODERNIZATION RECORD VS. "CRISIS" NARRATIVE

Staff estimates do not differentiate between deficiency repairs, complete replacements and modernization upgrades. City Hall has received: complete lighting modernization (2004, 2013 LED); new chillers, cooling towers, and building automation (2004, 2013); complete heating replacement (2023); rooftop solar (2013); elevator modernization (1997, 2019); roofreplacement and waterproofing (1998, 2000, 2017); major electrical upgrades (2017 ongoing).

Claiming $400M+ in additional repairs are needed after this investment is not supported by the evidence of past assessments and investments.

The characterization of this building as "neglected" is inconsistent with documented evidence.

WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO DO A DEFERRED MAINTENANCE STUDY?

Methodology Matters

A rigorous facility condition assessment (FCA) requires a minimum of 12 months of structured work: baseline reconstruction, field inspections, testing, asset database development, and capital planning. Industry best practices recommend FCA updates every 3–5 years.

When field verification is eliminated, analysis relies on older data not updated for recent investments; conservative assumptions substitute for measured conditions; every unknown gets priced at worst-case; contingencies layer at multiple levels; replacement costs substitute for repair costs.

The current AECOM engagement (January 2026 deadline) provided only weeks for analysis. This is a rough cost extrapolation, not a comprehensive FCA. Such abbreviated analyses typically compensate for this deficiency by overestimating. costs and contingencies.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Put plainly, there is no evidence in the FCA record, the project history, or prior engineering studies to support the idea that City Hall has accumulated 400M+ in true deferred maintenance.

The magnitude of the cost gap indicates that independent validation and a full 12-month FCA following industry standards would provide more reliable cost projections before irreversible decisions about relocation or disposition are made.

A disciplined approach consistent with City Hall's successful 47-year history, evidence-based assessment, phased capital planning, and incremental modernization aligned with available funding, would better serve both the building and the citizens of Dallas than crisis-driven decision-making based on unverified projections.

Upgrades will be needed again over time—no complex civic building is ever "finished." However, City Hall's record demonstrates these needs can be addressed through the same prudent, phased approach used for three decades, not through a crisis-driven, all-at-once replacement program.

REPAIRS VS. ENHANCEMENTS

The purpose of this paper is to examine claims that are being made about the condition of City Hall, the repairs required to address deferred maintenance and the currently available evidence regarding same. As addressed in our previous paper, City Hall must also be welcoming, easy to navigate and be an exemplary 21st century workplace – attributes expected in any location being considered, be it the existing building, a 1980s spec office building, a 1915 warehouse or other. The enhancements required to do this will vary from location to location and should be the subject of additional site-specific cost evaluation.

IN CLOSING

Dallas City Hall is a functional asset, not a failing structure. The building can continue serving Dallas for decades through the same prudent, phased investment approach that has sustained it for nearly fifty years.

Before considering relocation of City Hall or the sale or demolition of this significant public building, decision-makers would benefit from methodology meeting professional standards and cost estimates reflecting measured conditions rather than speculative worst-case assumptions.

The building is not in crisis. The citizens of Dallas deserve decisions grounded in rigorous evidence and transparent analysis.

This analysis was prepared by the Ten Presidents, an informal collaboration of Dallas architects, each a Fellow of the AIA and a former President of an AIA component at a national, state or local level.

For reasons of financial, heritage, cultural and environmental responsibility, all are opposed to abandonment of Dallas City Hall.

The Ten Presidents (yes, there are now more than ten of us) are:

Larry Good, FAIA 1986 AIA Dallas President

Duncan Fulton, FAIA 1992 AIA Dallas President

Marcel Quimby, FAIA 1995 AIA Dallas President

Dennis Stacy, FAIA 1996 AIA Dallas President

Robert Meckfessel, FAIA 2000 AIA Dallas President

Myriam Camargo, FAIA 2001 AIA Dallas President

Ted Kollaja, FAIA 2003 AIA Dallas President

Craig Raynolds, FAIA 2004 AIA Dallas President + 2012 TxA President

Jeff Potter, FAIA 2004 TxA President + 2012 AIA National President

Tipton Housewright, FAIA 2005 AIA Dallas President

Betsy del Monte, FAIA 2007 AIA Dallas President

Lisa Lamkin, FAIA 2014 AIA Dallas President

Appendix

Critical Definitions & Deficiency Analysis Principles

Deficiency repairs: Work to correct non-functioning conditions or code violations. Tied to FCA findings with assigned priority.

Deferred maintenance: Deficiency repairs identified but not addressed within recommended timeframe. This is a subset of needs, not every possible upgrade.

Modernization/upgrades: Work to improve performance beyond restoring original condition. Driven by policy goals, not condition failure.

Not all modernization is deferred maintenance. Blending these categories mislabels improvements as "backlog" and inflates the perceived crisis. A credible estimate starts from documented deficiencies, subtracts what has been remedied, adds only genuine overdue items, and separates elective modernization.

The "all-at-once" problem: City Hall's investment history demonstrates successful phased modernization over decades. There is no requirement to compress all future upgrades into one mega-project labeled "deferred maintenance." A disciplined capital plan separates: (1) urgent repairs and true deferred maintenance, (2) lifecycle replacements, (3) elective modernization. Collapsing all three distort priorities and prevents rational resource allocation.

Ten Presidents Position Paper 3.pdf

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