The Dallas Wings are stepping in to take the reins of their long-planned practice facility in Far West Oak Cliff, after delays and rising costs forced a reset on the public-private project.
The Dallas City Council voted 13-2 this week to amend its development agreement with the WNBA franchise, handing construction control of the facility at 1200 North Cockrell Hill Road at Joey Georgusis Park to the team, the Dallas Morning News reported. The city will contribute $57 million toward the project’s now-$81 million price tag, with the Wings covering the balance.
The shift comes as the nearly 71,000-square-foot training center drifted off schedule and far beyond its original $48.6 million budget, according to the publication. Initially slated to open ahead of the 2025 WNBA season, the facility is now expected to be completed in 2027.
Team leadership framed the takeover as a necessary move to ensure quality and execution. Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb said at the council meeting that the organization would not cut corners despite escalating costs, calling the facility critical to both player performance and community engagement.
Plans for the complex include two full courts, a roughly 3,800-square-foot locker room, more than 4,000 square feet of strength and conditioning space and multipurpose areas for youth programming and events.
Not everyone at City Hall is on board. Council member Cara Mendelsohn, one of two dissenting votes, blasted the public contribution as excessive, particularly as the city weighs potential cuts to other services.
The practice facility is part of a broader push to anchor the Wings in Dallas’ urban core. The city is also moving forward with renovations to Dallas Memorial Auditorium at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which is slated to become the team’s future home arena. That project too has hit delays, with completion now expected in 2028 instead of this season, according to the publication.
The council separately voted to trim its contract with project manager McKissack & McKissack by $1.8 million after removing oversight of the practice facility from its scope.
Longer term, the Wings’ downtown move could coincide with a new arena for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, whose leadership has signaled interest in sites near the city core.
— Eric Weilbacher
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