Dallas is reworking the money plan for its new police training center at UNT Dallas after voters turned down the $443 million public safety bond that was supposed to finish paying for it.
A memo prepared for Monday's Public Safety Committee meeting says that, because of the Nov. 3 bond result, the city is "evaluating options with the contractor and the fundraisers to address the funding gap." Staff plan to bring those options to the committee and the full City Council "in the upcoming months," according to the memo from Chief of Public Safety Dominique Artis.
It gives no figures or dates beyond that.
What the bond was carrying
The center, planned for 7300 University Hills Blvd. on the UNT Dallas campus, has an estimated construction budget of $185 million, according to an Oct. 28 council item. The city's October update to the same committee listed $107 million committed so far:
- $50 million from the 2024 bond program
- $25 million in state grants, $10 million from 2023 and $15 million from 2025
- $10 million from the Communities Foundation of Texas' W. W. Caruth Foundation Fund, of which $7.5 million had arrived
- $10 million from QuikTrip
- $12 million in other private pledges
That update said $82 million of the bond would have gone to finishing construction and "closing the funding gap." Private donors had committed $32 million toward a $70 million fundraising goal, and staff said the other $38 million was expected to come in on schedule.
Work already underway
Crews began clearing the site in September after a Sept. 3 groundbreaking, and the October memo put the site package at 5% complete. Construction is scheduled to wrap up in July 2028.
