Fate of Duncanville StarCenter to be decided at special city council meeting

by Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

Duncanville City Manager Kent Cagle promises a definite resolution to the StarCenter situation today. An agenda item for a special 5 p.m. city council meeting deals with either the modification or termination the Stars’ lease with Duncanville.

Stars’ officials say the Duncanville ice facility hasn’t performed to financial expectations, while Duncanville leaders including Cagle say it’s because the organization has no local presence.

“We get people coming in there weekly thinking it’s a Dr. Pepper bottling facility and wanting to put in an application,” Cagle said. “Jerry Jones or Mark Cuban would have never let something like this happen. Jones would have a circus or something going on in the parking lot before he’d let the building be empty.”

Stars, Rangers, and Liverpool pro soccer club Tom Hicks’ well-publicized financial problems weigh heavily in this debate. The Stars can buy out of their 25-year lease with the City of Duncanville for $2 million, but there’s reason to be concerned whether the organization even has that kind of cash on hand.

The Dallas Stars pro hockey team is under a salary cap freeze and Hicks is trying to sell majority ownership in the Texas Rangers. In June Hicks couldn’t meet the team’s payroll and had to borrow $15 million from Major League Baseball.

Complicating matters, another group has come forward with a plan to turn the hockey facility into basketball courts. Cagle said while the city wants the Stars to stay and honor their deal, officials are concerned about turning a potential tenant away.