Dallas permit office building closed after fire code violations found
DALLAS - A Dallas City Council committee will hold a meeting next week to address questions about an office tower in the city purchased for $14 million in 2022.
The building was supposed to be an upgrade for employees who work in the permitting office, but the building is now closed because of dozens of code compliance and permit failures.
"Staff needs to get their act together on this," said Dallas City Councilman Chad West.
The City of Dallas bought the 11-story building at 7800 North Stemmons Freeway for $14 million and has invested $7 million more since.
That money comes from building permit fees, but the high rise that is supposed to house the city's building inspectors and planners is in such bad shape the city was forced to move employees out, just four months after they had moved in.
Records from Dallas Fire show a slew of violations, 39 in all in February, while city employees occupied the building.
On April 3, an inspection found a fire alarm only sounded on the second floor and was unable to be heard on floors 3 through 11.
It was so bad that on April 9th, an email went out to city staff to immediately report to work from other designated locations.
"Effective tomorrow, DSD team members will not be allowed to occupy or enter 7800 N Stemmons," read the email.
Councilman West says the city staff's responses to him have only been surface-level.
"I would expect nothing less than to hear from staff on exactly what happened, where the ball was dropped, and how we are not going to let that happen again," he said.
Then-city manager T.C. Broadnax and assistant city manager Majed Al-Ghafry presented the proposal to purchase the Stemmons building to city council members in August 2022.
West says their current building on Jefferson is a bad work environment.
"City staff should be working in a place where they feel safe, they feel empowered to do their best. One of the problems with the current permit office is it is one of the most depressing places to work I've ever seen. You've got leaking walls, there's no windows, it is an ancient building with no updates," he said.
JLL appraised the building for $14 million, but the appraisal has several caveats, including that a property condition assessment was "assumed to be accurate."
FOX 4 spoke with the appraiser who made the personal inspection of the property. He did not recall the building in question and said he no longer works for JLL.
West says he and other council members have requested staff provide answers soon.
"The public deserves transparency here. This, frankly, whatever happened, when we uncover it all, is a setback," he said.
FOX 4 was told Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry was not available to comment Thursday. He is one of three finalists for the city manager job in DeSoto.
A spokeswoman said the city's chief building official, Andrew Espinosa, was also unavailable to speak on Thursday.
A Dallas City Council Ad Hoc committee will be discussing this issue next Thursday at 3 p.m.