Neighbors are excited to learn that Las Vegas casino people who are planning to buy the Dallas Mavericks have also purchased a big piece of land in Irving.
Those buyers confirm a resort is planned on that vacant land across Texas Highway 114 from where the Dallas Cowboys once played at Texas Stadium.
A new bridge over the highway will link the two sites.
Mark Patel, the owner of a Days Inn that overlooks the former Texas Stadium site, still displays Dallas Cowboys memorabilia in his lobby.
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“If a casino or another sports team comes to replace the Cowboys, like the Dallas Mavericks might, if they come, it would be an ideal place, because they have a lot of highways around there,” Patel said.
New highway overpasses now tower over the Days Inn after years of road construction.
Since Texas Stadium was imploded in 2010, the site has been used by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) as a construction staging area.
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The City of Irving invested $11 million to add features to the bridge the state constructed over 114 would be a gateway bridge into the city.
“Yeah it’s a good bridge, but inside the land is empty. It’s a bridge to nowhere right now,” Patel said.
City Manager Chris Hill spoke with NBC 5 about it in October 2018.
“We wanted to be sure that as people passed under and over that bridge they knew they were entering into a very special and important development,” Hill said. “We feel this site is going to be successful for any developer that wants to come in and put up incredible mixed-use development.”
Now Las Vegas casino owners confirm to NBC 5 Media Partner the Dallas Morning News that they are the buyers of that land across from the old stadium site.
DART trains that pass right through it could make a new stop there.
Ron Reese, a spokesman for the Sands Corporation in Las Vegas told the Dallas Morning News that a resort is planned on the property and more land purchases could come in the future.
“Hopefully something like that big come. That would be excellent,” Patel said.
Mavericks' current owner Mark Cuban has said in the past that he wants to move the team out of the American Airlines Center and into a new arena in Dallas with a casino.
Cuban said that the sale of the team is all part of that plan. But casinos are still illegal in Texas and no one has confirmed the Irving location, which is very close to Dallas, is the target for a casino or a Mavericks arena, as much as some neighbors would like it.
“I’m just hoping any big company would come and help take that land away from the city of Irving and then the whole city of Irving would benefit,” Patel said.
Messages left for the Irving City Manager, Irving Mayor Rick Stopfer and the Irving Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce were not returned Tuesday.
The Texas Stadium site has been mentioned for many other projects in the past including a second headquarters for Amazon when that nationwide competition was raging.
A TxDOT spokesman said the road construction and use of the former Texas Stadium site for that work is expected to be completed in early spring of 2024.
Here's what to know about the land purchase.
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