City leaders push for DART rail line by planned convention hotel

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

Running the new downtown Dallas rail line by the proposed convention center hotel will cost the most of any of the four options under review by DART and would at least initially attract fewer pedestrians to its rail stations.

Still, city leaders, including Mayor Tom Leppert, strongly support aligning the long-awaited second downtown Dallas light rail line south to the new hotel site and then to an underground station at City Hall. That option was added last year, at the city's behest, to a list of potential routes under review by DART.

"It's not just about the convention center hotel, though that is an important element," said City Council member Ron Natinsky , chairman of the council's economic development committee. "When you look at ... what it would do to develop the southern edge of downtown, this is the option that makes the most transportation and economic development sense."

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