North Texas officials are preparing for a potential legal battle over a “higher-speed” rail route planned between Dallas and Fort Worth, and it could reshape one of the region’s biggest developments.
The elevated route would cut through the southwest corner of downtown Dallas, where Hunt Realty Investments owns the more than 20-acre Reunion property, which includes the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Reunion Tower.
It would connect a station in the Cedars to both the Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station via a pedestrian connection on the southwest side of downtown, and to the Hyatt Regency via a sky bridge.
However, the influential real estate investor has opposed the plan in its current form, with a representative telling The Dallas Morning News the noise from a train could render a wide swath of hotel rooms unrentable. Meanwhile, Dallas officials have withheld their full support for the project.
The Cedars station received preliminary federal approval as part of a separate Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail project in 2020. That project would shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes compared to the three-and-a-half-hour car trip on Interstate 45.
Transportation planners say the Dallas-to-Fort Worth line would connect to the lengthier Houston route. Together, both projects would drive economic growth in the region ― especially around stations in Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas, they argue.
“This is really the missing link between Dallas and Fort Worth and why anyone would say that it’s not going to be economically beneficial to build upon what we have as a great city already in Dallas, it kind of boggles the mind,” said Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocates.
Supporters point to large-scale commercial and residential development around stations in Tokyo, home to the Japan Central Railways’ Shinkansen bullet train system. The D-FW line could also serve as a connection point for a potential national high-speed rail network.
“If we are at the epicenter of high-speed rail for the entire United States, this can take Dallas into a trajectory … that I can’t even imagine,” Dallas City Council member Omar Narvaez, who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said last March.
A real estate player pushes back
The preferred “2b” route for the Dallas-to-Fort Worth line would also force the reconfiguration of the Hyatt Regency and Reunion Tower, both landmarks of Dallas’ downtown skyline.
The 2b alignment would cut so close to the Hyatt that it would make as many as one-third of the hotel’s 1,120 rooms unrentable because of the sights and sounds of the train, a Hunt Realty representative told The Dallas Morning News.
It would force the hotel’s main entrance to be relocated to where the loading dock currently sits, because of where support columns for the train would land. That means the hotel’s first two floors would need reconfiguration to relocate elevators and meeting rooms.
That work would incur significant costs, Hunt officials say, calling into question whether tearing down and relocating the hotel and Reunion Tower would make more economic sense.
Also in jeopardy is a planned $5 billion development on land Hunt Realty owns around the Hyatt. That development would include as many as 3,000 apartments, a 600- to 1,000-room hotel, 150,000 square feet of retail space and up to 2 million square feet of offices surrounding a 3- to 4-acre park.
The firm argues it would be an economic engine that capitalizes on Dallas’ new $3 billion convention center nearby.
Neither of the Forth Worth and Houston routes have been fully funded. Even if the Dallas-to-Fort Worth line is never completed, the looming impact of a potential route that slices through the development has a chilling effect on funding for a multi-use project, Hunt’s camp argues.
Officials with the North Central Texas Council of Governments say the 2b alignment has the least flaws, with 42 other alignments considered and rejected since 2020. In letters from staff attorney Ken Kirkpatrick, NCTCOG staff say they’ve tried to make concessions to Hunt Realty’s concerns.
“Throughout the environmental analysis, NCTCOG has not only looked for ways to avoid, minimize and mitigate any potential environmental and social impacts but also to enhance social and economic opportunities near the proposed alignment,” a Dec. 31 letter reads.
Staff have signaled they are preparing for a legal fight if necessary. The Regional Transportation Council on Thursday approved an initial $250,000 in funding for outside legal fees, in the event Hunt Realty files suit against NCTCOG — a move transportation officials think could be likely based on correspondence from the firm’s attorneys.
Doubts in Dallas
The 2b route — and the Dallas-to-Fort Worth project itself — has also drawn scrutiny from Dallas officials. Several have expressed worry about the impacts to the new convention center.
They have questioned the need for a line they say wouldn’t cut much travel time compared to traversing the 30 miles between Dallas and Fort Worth by car, especially when factoring in logistical hurdles like getting to and from stations.
Last June, the Dallas City Council passed a resolution withholding support for the rail line until they receive results of an economic impact study, which is currently underway.
Hunt Realty hasn’t commented publicly on NCTCOG’s recent actions, or directly threatened litigation. But outside counsel would help NCTCOG’s two staff attorneys focus on day-to-day business, while third-party attorneys contend with the flurry of letters from Hunt attorneys.
“Pointing back to the October letter demanding that we preserve and not destroy documents related to this particular topic — in reality, that’s a precursor to litigation,“ NCTCOG general counsel Ken Kirkpatrick told the Regional Transportation Council.
”They’re sending a signal when you get done with the EA [environmental assessment], whatever the final decision is if we don’t like it, we’re going to litigation.”
NCTCOG could spend as much as $1 million if a suit is filed, according to the council.
