The push to decide the fate of Dallas City Hall has unfolded in public meetings and consultant reports, but also in behind-the-scenes maneuvering and disputes over business authority as the city weighs one of its biggest civic decisions in decades.
The Dallas Economic Development Corp., a city-affiliated nonprofit led by CEO Linda McMahon, has emerged in internal emails as a powerful gatekeeper, coordinating consultants, managing outside partners and directing the project’s communications.
More than 5,000 emails reviewed by The Dallas Morning News also show how McMahon has been eager to expand the nonprofit’s influence, sometimes clashing with the city’s economic development department and leaders.
The emails reveal tension over how large a role the EDC should play in recruiting companies and guiding business strategy. In one exchange, after McMahon questioned the city’s handling of an incentive plan tied to a company’s Love Field expansion, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert responded bluntly to another top city official: “We will discuss! This over reach is exhausting.”
A city spokesman said Tolbert was not available for comment Friday.
McMahon, in a statement Friday, McMahon acknowledged that the EDC, created to handle business development, retention and real estate for the city, has faced friction with the city’s economic development staff over their respective roles and that, at times, “communication has not been good.”
She said those issues sometimes had to be elevated beyond staff discussions.
“My goal has always been to work through this with the staff and not to involve the City Manager but certain circumstances required that the board and I elevated it to the City Manager level because there was no resolution to be made at the staff level,” she said.
Amid those disputes, Tolbert asked the EDC to lead the effort examining the nearly 50-year-old City Hall. The corporation on Dec. 2 approved updating an existing agreement with the city to do the work.
The month before, in a Nov. 6 message to Tolbert, McMahon outlined a sweeping proposal, identifying consultants to evaluate the building’s condition, examine potential relocation sites and develop a land-use vision for the surrounding district.
“Let me know if I captured your requirements,” she wrote. “Can start immediately.”
Under McMahon’s outline, the EDC would oversee nearly every piece of the analysis.
The email, titled “Outline of activities,” laid out a broad plan: assess the city’s space needs, compile a shortlist of potential buildings, conduct an engineering review of City Hall, evaluate the economic impact of nearby convention center plans and develop a land-use vision for the surrounding district.
She also offered to help identify a real estate broker to negotiate leases if the city decided to relocate.
McMahon named firms she could assemble to help carry out the work, from architecture and design firm Corgan to analyze space needs to San Antonio-based Overland Partners to provide pro bono land-use planning.
Once officials narrowed down possible buildings, McMahon wrote, Corgan could estimate build-out costs, timelines and moving expenses.
She asked Tolbert to designate a city liaison and offered to formalize the plan.
Four days later on Nov. 10, Tolbert forwarded the email to Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley, who oversees economic development, planning, zoning and the convention center. Her message: “FYA,” shorthand for “for your action.”
In the weeks that followed, McMahon coordinated with more than 20 consultants, city staff members and contractors working on the City Hall assessment. She imposed tight controls on the flow of information. No materials could be distributed without her approval.
“Please make sure that you mark all of your reports as a DRAFT,” she wrote in a Jan. 5 email. “This is critical.”
McMahon instructed participants not to share documents outside their immediate teams until the city authorized their release and required anyone involved in the project to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
“I appreciate all of your dedication in getting this project over the finish line,” she wrote.
According to a copy of the agreement:
- Any information shared by the corporation, whether in documents, reports, or discussions, must be treated as confidential.
- The person or company receiving the information can’t share it with anyone outside their team without written permission.
- They can’t use the information for anything other than the City Hall project.
- If someone receives a subpoena or court order demanding they release the information, they must tell the corporation and work with them to try to keep it confidential.
- If they have to disclose it, they can only share what is absolutely required by law.
- At the end of the project, or if the corporation asks, they must return or delete all copies of the information, unless they are legally required to keep it.
The confidentiality terms remain in place for two years or until the project concludes and specify disputes must be handled in Dallas County courts. The agreement acknowledges some records may be subject to release under the Texas Public Information Act.
Rise in influence
McMahon built her reputation in banking and financial services before becoming president and CEO of the Real Estate Council in 2010, where she transformed the group into a powerful voice for the commercial real estate industry in North Texas.
When she took over the EDC in 2024, she began meeting with the city’s largest taxpayers in an effort to strengthen Dallas’ standing with major employers and prevent companies such as AT&T and Comerica from relocating from downtown.
At a June 2025 economic development committee meeting, she told city officials that Texas Instruments executives had complained they knew the city manager in every major city except Dallas.
As head of the EDC, her team evaluated the troubled 7800 Stemmons building the city purchased for its permitting office. The EDC concluded the city failed to follow standard procedures before spending $21 million on a property it later moved to auction.
As McMahon’s influence grew, conflicts between the EDC and City Hall’s economic development team intensified.
“What a cluster!!!”
In a Jan. 21 email to Tolbert, McMahon expressed frustration over what she described as a communication breakdown that threatened Dallas’ efforts to attract Nasdaq to the city.
“Well another misstep on the part of the City and an embarrassment for what we are trying to accomplish,” McMahon wrote.
According to the emails, Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley had received a call from the Dallas Regional Chamber saying Nasdaq was exploring other cities in North Texas. The chamber encouraged mayors across the region to contact the company.
The move blindsided McMahon, who said she had been leading discussions with Nasdaq for more than a year.
“What a cluster!!!” McMahon wrote to Tolbert. “I told Robin that this madness must stop – she should have at least talked to me and I could have stopped this in its tracks and also go to the Chamber and tell them this is a Dallas deal and not open for auction.
McMahon warned that the breakdown in communication had upset her board chair and other members, some of whom were considering resigning. She said that could disrupt the EDC and damage its credibility.
“This is not sustainable,” McMahon wrote. “I have kept you out of the sausage making for a year and a half but I will not risk the reputation of the good people on my board and as my last chapter in my career — my reputation.”
“The over reach is exhausting”
Throughout the past year, McMahon pressed city leaders to clarify the EDC’s authority and formalize an agreement giving the organization a larger role in recruiting companies to Dallas.
Several email exchanges focus on a proposed agreement that would more clearly define the corporation’s role in economic development efforts.
In a Jan. 23 email, McMahon appeared frustrated by what she apparently interpreted as Tolbert’s reaction to an introductory video about the organization.
“City Manager respectfully. What do you want? Do you want us to lead with strength and vision or do you want bureaucracy to be the narrative as it has always been,” McMahon wrote to Tolbert.
“No shade to great people on the city team but the EDC is ready to lead with vision, commitment, and support from the business community the likes of which the city has never had,” she added.
McMahon said in a phone called Friday that “growing pains” among the EDC, the city’s economic development department and Tolbert have smoothed since the late 2025 email exchanges.
During negotiations over a Bombardier expansion at Love Field, McMahon complained the city presented an incentive proposal without first discussing the terms with her, saying officials dropped it “on their desk cold.”
She emailed the city that the company was struggling to understand the proposal and questioned whether Dallas could deliver on the incentives because of the lack of clarity.
Bentley forwarded the email to Tolbert.
“We will discuss! This over reach is exhausting,” Tolbert responded.
City Hall debate
The final EDC-coordinated report concluded that the I.M. Pei-designed City Hall faces steep costs to remain viable.
Consultants estimated about $329 million in corrective repairs, while a full modernization that would allow the city to stay in the building for the next two decades could cost up to $1 billion, including financing and relocation costs.
That top figure has sparked skepticism from preservationists and stirred speculation that City Hall will move, clearing the way there for a new arena for the Dallas Mavericks. Business interests see the site as a redevelopment opportunity to energize that part of downtown.
The study did not recommend whether Dallas should remain or relocate. Instead, it laid out competing scenarios, from repairing the structure to leasing or buying office space elsewhere.
Since the report’s release, the City Council has begun weighing those options but has not committed to leaving the building. Council members have directed city staff to continue analyzing both repair and relocation scenarios and to return with additional financial comparisons and recommendations before any final decision.
Email trail
The Dallas Morning News reviewed nearly 5,000 pages of emails exchanged over the past 12 months among city officials, consultants and others at City Hall. The messages offer a behind-the-scenes look at a range of issues, including debate over whether Dallas should repair the aging building or relocate government operations.
