Last Call For Reunion Arena?

An aging Dallas arena that’s foundered under a non-compete agreement with another local venue could face the wrecking ball following a recent recommendation by a local committee.

The 28-year-old Reunion Arena has reportedly lost more than $6 million during the past five years and just isn’t worth saving, members of the city’s economic development committee told the Dallas Morning News.

The committee recently voted unanimously to raze the facility after realizing how much it would cost to improve the 19,000-capacity building, keep it up and running and – most importantly – out of the red.

The arena would reportedly need more than $2.5 million in renovations to its parking lots, heating and air conditioning systems and elevators just to stay open.

And on top of that, bookings at the venue have fallen flat since the city signed an agreement years ago that gives the newer American Airlines Center first crack at events that attract more than 5,000, the Morning News reported.

"It’s time to move on," committee chair Ron Natinsky told the paper. "There is really nothing more we could do to make Reunion Arena a more marketable and useful facility than it is, and we continue to lose money." The committee’s resolution calls for the arena to cease operation June 30th.

In closing the arena, the city, which is facing a $50 million budget crisis of its own, could save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on operating costs, Natinsky said. The land could eventually be sold but city council members have expressed intentions of waiting for the real estate market to improve.

A financial plan for the demolition is in the works, with a price tag that reportedly tops $5 million. However, the plan includes a provision that the nearly inactive 9,816-capacity Dallas Convention Center Arena be renovated to host community events that previously went to the Reunion Arena, the paper said.

In recent years, Reunion Arena several has hosted "Disney on Ice," David Crowder Band, Unwritten Law, ZOEgirl, Casting Crowns and was the site of Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Huck Jam in 2002.

The committee’s recommendations are set to go to a vote by the Dallas city council later this month.