Dallas News Blog

​A Friend of Unfair Park sends word: Borders Group is removing from its shelf 200 Waldenbooks locations across the U.S. -- including, as you can tell from the headline, the longstanding Valley View Center location, which opened in October 1999. Employees there only found out about the closure, scheduled for January, yesterday. Per the list of closings, the Borders Express in Collin Creek Mall will also vanish after the holidays, as will the Waldenbooks in Ridgmar Mall in Fort Worth.

The closings are what Borders Group CEO Ron Marshall calls "right-sizing," as in: "Through this right-sizing, we will reduce the number of stores with operating losses, reduce our overall rent expense and lease-adjusted leverage and generate cash flow through sales and working capital reductions." The release does say the list is subject to change, but Borders has been closing Waldenbooks by the dozens in recent years. This leaves 130 Waldenbooks and Borders Express locations after January, none in the DFW.

Bonnie Schmick, spokesperson for Borders, says "we're going to make every effort to place employees in open positions within other Waldenbooks and Borders Express, as well the Borders superstores. And those we are not able to place will receive severance."

​I've had today's date circled on my calendar since October 7: This was to be the day Bob's Steak & Chop House went on the auction block. And ever since this morning, when we got word that there was at least one heretofore unmentioned notable interested in taking Bob Sambol's Lemmon Avenue eatery at a deep discount, I've been trying to reach both Sambol and Robert Milbank, the Dallas attorney who took over as trustee after the U.S. Trustee deemed Sambol too conflicted to best represent the interest of his creditors. Several messages later, and no luck.

Finally, moments ago, I got hold of Sambol at the restaurant, and he says today's auction "was abruptly ended because of a lot of misunderstanding or clarification of terms." There are presently two bids on the table: one from BSCH Management, which is owned and operated by Bill Lenox (Sambol's partner back when he opened the Lemmon Ave. location in December 1994) and Omni Hotels Corporation; and one from Del Frisco's. The Del Frisco's bid of around $240,000 is slightly higher than BSCH's, but, according to Sambol, Milbank ended today's proceedings because of myriad questions over the bidding process. It's scheduled to resume on November 23.

Till then, Sambol says, "It's business as usual, and I am still at my restaurant, and I am looking forward to sticking around." Which may not be as simple as it sounds, because while Lenox's bid includes a caveat that will allow Sambol to remain at his namesake eatery, Del Frisco's does not.

"I am hoping that no matter what happens," Sambol says, "I get to keep running this restaurant."

​When A.H. Belo Corporation released its third-quarter financials on Friday, included high in the press release was this note: "As part of the Company's ongoing efforts to realign its business and reduce expenses, The Dallas Morning News will close the packaging facility as it consolidates production operations into a single facility located in Plano, Texas. This consolidation of production facilities should be completed in the first quarter of 2010. The Company has begun the process of marketing the packaging facility for sale."

Jim Moroney

​The facility in question is the "post-press and distribution" center located near the intersection of Interstates 20 and 45 in southern Dallas, which only went online in the summer of 2007; perhaps you saw Rudy Bush's follow-up, in which City Manager Mary Suhm said of the plant's March 31 closing, "It's sad. We're working hard at increasing the tax base and the quality of life in southern Dallas." Council member Tennell Atkins, in whose district the plant sits, also was not pleased, especially given the fact The News received tax abatements from the city that it has promised to return.

Several Friends of Unfair Park have wondered about the irony of the announcement -- since, after all, the paper has made a self-proclaimed "crusade" out of "Bridging Dallas' North-South Gap." Which is why, just as editorial writer Tod Robberson was posting his position on the announcement, I sent News publisher and CEO Jim Moroney a note asking for his thoughts on the closing of the southern Dallas facility. Moroney, who ultimately made the decision but was not quoted in his paper's piece, responded with a lengthy note Monday night. It follows after the jump.

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Maybe you recall that back on September 15, Elm Street-based Blockbuster filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a little heads-up that, oh, just maybe it would shutter by the end of 2010 somewhere between 810 and 1,560 stores -- it all depends on how you define "shutter." (Some brick-and-mortars could be converted to outlet stores of some kind.) Since that initial announcement, nothing -- till today: John Wright at the Dallas Voice has received confirmation that the Blockbuster at 3911 Lemmon Avenue -- "known for its GLBT-interest section" -- will be adiosed by January, with its farewell preceded by a clearance sale that's already underway. I drive by this Blockbuster all the time. I thought it closed years ago. I mean, look at the parking lot. It's always like that.

Dennis Gilbert

​Last month, the Startlegram outed former Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco agent Dennis Gilbert as a would-be buyer of Your Texas Rangers, which the Beverly Hills-based Gilbert wouldn't confirm at the time. That made sense: He's still in pro ball (he reviews contracts for the Chicago White Sox, where his title is Special Assistant to the Chairman, which is also what they used to call Joey Bishop), and sources told the paper that, look, he isn't a serious contender because he'll need plenty of outsider investors to foot the bill. But Gilbert, a former minor-leaguer, is an intriguing guy; last month, Lone Star Ball directed our attention to a lengthy 1993 Sports Illustrated profile that compared and contrasted him with Baseball Antichrist Scott Boras.

Nevertheless, one week after Houston freight-man Jim Crane and Pittsburgh attorney Chuck Greenberg made their Arlington pit stops, Gilbert came to town: Last night we received word from Lisa LeMaster, who handles PR for Tom Hicks, that Rangers president Nolan Ryan and GM Jon Daniels were among those sitting down with Gilbert and his people at the Ballpark in Arlington on Wednesday. I had some follow-up questions, but was met, as before, by the cold, hard slap of the final line of the press release: "Neither Hicks Sports Group nor the Rangers will have any further comment regarding today's meeting."

​Last November, Walt Disney's nephew (Roy Disney) and the Disney family's investment firm (Shamrock Holdings) bought a 5.5 percent stake in Mockingbird Lane-based concrete maker Texas Industries, Inc., which, till just recently, wanted to burn tires down in Midlothian in order to fuel its kilns. (Shamrock now owns slightly more than 10 percent of the company.) Anyway, long story short: The Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning that yesterday, after TXI's annual shareholders meeting at the Crowne Plaza Market Center, Shamrock claimed it snagged three seats on the concrete-maker's board of directors.

Shamrock and TXI, which won't announce the voting results till next week, have been engaged in a wet-concrete wrestling match for some time, with the Disneys insisting that TXI chairman Robert Rogers -- an executive board member at the SMU Cox School of Business -- ain't doing such a hot job running the company, even in a down market. Hence the proxy fight that's been brewing since June with no resolution. (Said TXI CEO Mel Brekhus in an October 12 statement, "We are certainly disappointed with Shamrock's lack of interest in a cooperative agreement.") Stanley Gold, Shamrock's president and CEO, tells The Times, "This is the largest repudiation of a company's leadership that I've seen. It's a wake-up call to Texas Industries and Mr. Rogers that they better get their act together."

​Reuters was right: Last week, the news service reported that the three parties interested in taking the Texas Rangers off Tom Hicks's hands would be in Arlington this week to meet and greet with team bigwigs. And, so far, so good: According to Official Statements from the LeMaster Group, which handles Hicks's PR, Houston's freight-train Jim Crane "and his advisors" paid Rangers Ballpark a visit on Tuesday; and, yesterday, the team has a visitor from Pittsburgh. Says the release we received last night:

Officials with Hicks Sports Group and the Texas Rangers held a series of meetings Wednesday with a second potential investor group for the Texas Rangers. The meetings with Pittsburgh attorney Chuck Greenberg and his advisors were conducted at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The meetings included a tour of the facility and conferences with officials of both baseball and business operations of the Rangers. Team President Nolan Ryan and General Manager Jon Daniels were among the officials who met with Mr. Greenberg and his advisors. In general, the meetings were described as "routine and part of the normal due diligence process."

Neither Hicks Sports Group nor the Rangers will have any further comment regarding today's meeting.

Trust me, they won't.

​I'd forgotten, till he called me back a few minutes ago, that I'd left Karl Zavitkovsky, head of the city's Office of Economic Development, a message Monday morning concerning the Dallas Film Commission's pending move into City Hall. Nonetheless, he was kind enough to further explain the reason for commission's move out of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau offices pending the council's OK next week. So, after the jump, a brief Q&A in which he provides, as much as possible, a sneak preview of the ramifications of the city's involvement in the moving-picture business -- and a look at how the city's changing the way it does business.

​That's the question answered by this briefing that's been prepared for the city council's Economic Development Committee on Tuesday morning. The short answer: The 2010 NBA All-Star Game is expected to generate about $2.49 million in tax revenue for the city. But keep in mind, should the council give its OK at the end of this month, $1.73 million of that will come out of the city's contingency reserves and be deposited into something called a Major Events Trust Fund controlled by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts before the game -- on February 5. Money put into the trust fund by the participating cities and the state covers, oh, everything from crowd and traffic control for events to more vague things like "public safety" and "emergency management." (Speaking of which, when's the "Mass Casualty exercise"? Says only "fall 2009." Sounds like quite the photo op.)

Which means, after all those expenses are covered out of the trust fund: "Potential tax revenue gain to the city is estimated to be $760,000," according to the council briefing. And keep in mind, that guesstimated income doesn't include other intangible benefits weighed by the city, among them "secondary spending, media exposure, growth to visitor industry, etc." Which, of course, is ... priceless.

So how'd the Comptroller do the math?

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in D.C. earlier this month

​That is, unless you have business with former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who, in his position as U.S. Trade Representative, will be holed up at the hotel Monday talking North American Free Trade Agreement. But, as Kirk cautioned in April, don't count on anyone "reopening" NAFTA any time soon. So, then, what's on the agenda? Let's ask the press release:

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk will host two media events at the meeting of the Free Trade Commission of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Dallas, Texas, on October 19, 2009. Ambassador Kirk will meet with his Ministerial colleagues, Canada's Trade Minister Stockwell Day and Mexico's Secretary of the Economy Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, to discuss ways to enhance our trading relationship and to ensure that the benefits of our trilateral economic relationship are widely shared and sustainable. Among the issues to be discussed is the relationship between trade, labor and the environment under the NAFTA.

On a semi-related note, Dallas Fed head Richard Fisher spoke at SMU this morning. Long story short, per The Wall Street Journal recap: "Fisher argued that despite a decline in global trade flows, globalization is still 'very much alive,' though the magnitude of the drop did come as a surprise."

​I see the Texas Rangers can't afford to refund True Believers' playoff-ticket money till November at best -- klassy! But good news, Rangers fans: Reuters reports today that the three parties interested in taking the team off Tom Hicks's debt-heavy hands are due to meet with management as soon as next week in the hopes of getting a new owner installed sooner than later. As in:

The goal is to have a winner identified by late November and a sale completed by year end, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing the ongoing process. The Rangers are expected to attract bids of $500 million to $550 million, analysts have said.

For those needing a recap, these are the three parties interested in buying the club. Reuters says there's a fourth suitor that's been added to the mix, but it's nothing serious. Hey, c'mon. I've got 20 bucks. Ah, yes.

Speaking of Southwest Airlines ...

The Love Field-based carrier reported this morning a $16-million third-quarter loss, which, given the current state of the aviation industry, Southwest is treating like a big victory. Hence, CEO and president Gary Kelly sunny(ish) disposition on Fox Business this morning. And a Friend of Unfair Park alerts us to this video from Air New Zealand, in which its crew is challenging Southwest to a ... um ... naked musical safety training video? Hard to say.

​First off: Happy birthday, Kirk Cameron. Hope you got something nice for your birthday -- maybe a copy of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species? Or, perhaps, a video game based on a movie in which you appeared. How about ... let's see ... Left Behind: Tribulation Forces. I know where you can get a copy: Dallas-area Walmarts, in which Inspired Media Entertainment is test-marketing sales of video games to the God-fearing; says the California-based CEO about the move into Texas Walmarts, "The U.S. market for Christian video games could reach $648 million within the next five years based upon just three percent of video game sales being in the Christian segment." Kirk, if you didn't get anything cool, let us know -- we'll bring you something on October 25, when you pay a visit to Robert Jeffress's First Baptist Dallas downtown. ("Friend Day"?) Unless we're too spent from having spent a Saturday with Hayden Panettiere.

Has 7-Eleven not heard of the Banana Bunker?

​So, Dallas-based 7-Eleven wants to keep its yellow bananas from going brown, which'll surely mean a little extra green at the cash register. Notes USA Today today, the chain will unroll some plastic wrap at 27 Dallas-area locations by way of a test run; Fresh Del Monte Produce says the wrap will "keep single bananas yellow and firm for five days, more than double the two-day shelf life for an unwrapped banana." But the Natural Resources Defense Council thinks that's just silly and wasteful: "There are better ways than adding a plastic wrapper around something that comes naturally wrapped in the first place," says Jenny Powers, the NRDC's spokesperson. It's happening: We're turning into England.

George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who may have to cut that ball in half

​On Tuesday, Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels said that, well, it is possible that Tom Hicks could maintain a majority interest in the Texas Rangers, despite his efforts to sell the club since April. But how, with all that debt here and abroad? Well ... who knows. But you probably recall that last week, Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud said he was good and ready to buy George Gillett's 50-percent stake in Liverpool FC, which would make him Hicks's partner. Hicks, though, would have to sign off on the deal, and he and Gillett ain't been buddy-buddy in a long time.

Which is why the prince's rep today tells the BBC that, well, see, just maybe ol' Faisal might go ahead and buy out everyone. Not sure if Hicks has any interest in that -- yet again, I've asked Hicks's PR peoples at the LeMaster Group for comment and will update when it arrives. But this is what Barry Didato tells the BBC in advance of Gillett's Tuesday trip to Saudi Arabia: "His Highness's shareholding could go from anything from nought to 100 percent. But he cannot be seen as a solution to the debt or problems in the existing relationship between the owners."

​Two years ago, GlobeSt.com took a look at the state of Dallas-Fort Worth's apartment market and said, in short, Lookin' good. Occupancy rates were on the rise, as were rents -- up to an average of $724 a month. But today, things are a little different: Rates are higher than they were in '07 (up to $749 around North Texas), but that's actually the result of across-the-board rent cuts in recent months, precipitated by a drop in occupancy rates (down to 89.8 percent) due to a glut of units. And folks who keep track of such stats warn that thousands multifamily units set to open toward year's end won't help matters any. Which is but one issue among many facing the complex complex business, says Tom Burns, associate partner in Hendricks & Partners' Dallas office:

"$300 billion in loans will come due during the next four years," Burns comments. "The majority of those buildings will need to be restructured or sold during the next three to five years." But the problem facing many of the owners, he continues, is the refinance-foreclosure duo, meaning assets will come to market way below market value. "Up to this point, we haven't seen a whole lot of that, but we think the tsunami will hit beginning the end of June 2010," Burns comments.

​Earlier this year, Deloitte LLP went down to Dallas City Hall and said it was thinking of consolidating its Dallas and Irving operations under one roof ... in Irving. The accounting firm had crunched the numbers, and "there was a multi-million dollar cost advantage to Deloitte LLP if it chose an Irving facility relative to downtown Dallas office buildings," according to a briefing being presented to the city council's Economic Development Committee Monday morning. And so, it was adios, Deloitte. Unless ...

Which beings us to Monday's briefing: The city's Office of Economic Development doesn't want to lose a major downtown tenant. Now's not the right time: Central Business District office vacancy rates haven't been this high in years, and, per the briefing, Cushman & Wakefield reports that "Dallas CBD Office Vacancy rate is the highest in the nation, and twice the national CBD." And so, the city is offering Deloitte an economic development grant worth $2 million, which will come from the Public/Private Partnership Fund and will be paid out in $500,000 increments over four years, beginning December 2011. And what does the city get for its investment?

Subject to City Council approval of the proposed economic development grant, Deloitte LLP has agreed to execute a 10-year lease extension at 2200 Ross Avenue (Chase Tower) beginning 2011 and will:
- Commit to maintain a minimum of 1,111 jobs at this location
- Ensure approximately $19.9 million is invested for tenant improvements

According to the last page of the briefing, City Hall believes the $2 million investment will yield $31 million in "net city fiscal impact." I'm having Deloitte look at the math to tell me if this is anywhere near correct. The council will vote on $2 mil October 14.

​... William "Tex" Moncrief Jr., the Fort Worth oilman and Internal Revenue Service fan who comes in at No. 366 on Forbes' latest list of the 400 Richest Americans. So, what does the man in possession of 20,000 acres of undeveloped Barnett Shale property have to say in the magazine's 22-question sidebar? Just this.

You have $100 million to spend in real estate, what do you buy and where?

I would get within 60 miles of Dallas and Fort Worth, especially ranch land if you can find it. The second place is around Gunnison, Colo.

Then again, Tom Hicks could always go rogue.

​Yesterday, Tom Hicks's PR peoples sent word that, yes, he and Liverpool FC partner George Gillett were indeed evaluating "the possibility of new investors injecting equity into LFC," but that no deal was on the table despite reports that Gillett was close to inking a deal to sell to a Saudi prince. Now we know why they're scouting for investors: The English papers are reporting that Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia, with whom the twosome restructured their crushing debt in July, are pressuring Hicks and Gillett to find a partner or part with the club because the deal was contingent upon them infusing the club with dough-re-mi neither one seem to have.

And, yes, Hicks may have promised Liverpool all was well and that, look, Dallas-based HKS will get 'round to building that new stadium sooner than later. But, reports The Times, "Rather than cementing their position as owners, the deal [with the banks] was designed to allow Hicks and Gillett more time to sell the club. It is understood both banks are reluctant to extend the loans again unless the club reduce their debt before next summer." Here, Mr. Hicks, let me put some Ice Girls on that.

George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who may be close to divorcing in Liverpool

​Nolan Ryan wants Your Texas Rangers, and word is Tom Hicks is this close to having a new partner in Liverpool FC: Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud. At least, that's what the Saudi's sayin': "We are looking forward to acquiring 50 percent of the club's stake." And the half he's buying belongs to George Gillett, with whom Hicks has had a rocky relationship since way back when, even though they patched it up long enough to rework their debt over the summer -- just enough time for the prince to ride to the rescue while Hicks actively looked for a minority investor.

Hicks doesn't think the deal's close to being done -- or, for that matter, real. Maybe, maybe not. But just moments ago, the prince's Saudi Arabia-based sports management firm -- F6 -- announced it had signed "an exclusive commercial collaboration" with Liverpool FC via high highness's handshake with Gillett. I've left messages with Hicks's PR peoples.

Update: Unfair Park received the following Tuesday morning from the offices of Lisa LeMaster: "The owners have jointly retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to evaluate the possibility of new investors injecting equity into LFC. However, the process is at an early stage, there is no agreement with any party and reports to the contrary are wholly inaccurate."

The renderings of the College Football Hall of Fame, which was to be built behind the convention center hotel

​Rudy Bush has the story: The College Football Hall of Fame is indeed picking up and leaving South Bend, Indiana ... for Atlanta! But, but, but. "We would not be pursuing this unless we had a good sense from our conversations that success was possible," the mayor said in April. And what about Bob Sambol's "30-year friend[ship]" with Steve Hatchell, president and CEO of the National Football Foundation, which is the parent entity of the College Football Hall of Fame? And won't the convention center hotel be lonely?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the announcement becomes official tomorrow, and that "the museum will become a unique sports draw in a district that already includes the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, CNN Center and the anticipated Center for Human and Civil Rights. Plans for a health museum also have been announced." But what will we do with these plans?

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This morning, Steve Brown mentioned that more than 250 local commercial properties are up for foreclosure next month, including "several vacant tracts of land in Oak Cliff along Davis Street, Kings Highway and Stevens Forest Drive." But Brown didn't mention which properties -- or who had plans to develop them. Unfair Park has learned that the four parcels -- worth some $15 million to Amegy Bank, which wants the properties sold off, according to Foreclosure Listing Service Inc.'s October report -- all belong to INCAP Fund, which had hoped to either sell the land to another developer or build townhouses, condos and multifamily units on the land.

The largest proposed development -- which eats up nearly nine acres at 2105 W. Davis Street and is on the books for $7,199,941 -- is currently listed on INCAP's Web site as "Davis Street TOD," meaning transit-oriented development (given its proximity to the proposed Oak Cliff streetcar rail line). The other three addresses are: 1836 W. Davis St. (for which the loan was $3,594,035), 1610 Kings Highway ($1,652,017) and 1818 Stevens Forest Drive ($3,262,000). All of the addresses are included in the Bishop/Davis Land Use and Zoning Study, which INCAP helped fund (it paid $25,000 of the $60,000 price tag).

INCAP told The News in May 2008 it never planned on developing the properties themselves, even after razing more than 1,500 apartment units to clear the space, some of which you see pictured above. President Alan McDonald said the proposed developments were merely "what-ifs," and that he hoped to begin selling the land to developers by the summer of '08. A year before that, Brown wrote about INCAP's "ambitious" plans to "dramatically reshape the historic Dallas neighborhood."

Sure, I know the Death Star's fashionable and all, but nobody thinks Cowboys Stadium looks like the Legion of Doom's HQ?

​At this late date -- which is to say, two days before the Dallas Cowboys finally play a meaningful game in Arlington -- what's left to say about Jerry Jones's $1.15-billion EnormoDome? Enough, clearly, to fill the top of Page B11 and most of Page B13 in this morning's New York Times with architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff's assessment. (There's also this Web-only review, which is like NPR with pictures.) Ouroussoff offers a brief history lesson -- and, no, it was not "the city" that "rejected the [Fair Park] plan as too costly," but the county, which, in 2004, was presented by Jones with an unrealistic time line and outrageous demands. He then gets to the point: The joint's awful big, all right, but so what?

Cowboys Stadium suffers from its own form of nostalgia: its enormous retractable roof, acres of parking and cavernous interiors are straight out of Eisenhower's America, with its embrace of car culture and a grandiose, bigger-is-better mentality. The result is a somewhat crude reworking of old ideas, one that looks especially unoriginal when compared with the sophisticated and often dazzling stadiums that have been built in Europe and the Far East over the last few years. Worse for fans, its lounges and concourses are so sprawling that I suspect more than a few spectators will get lost and miss the second-half kickoff.

​Yesterday came the big announcement: AT&T done bought itself the naming rights to the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. But there was one glaring omission in the press release's fine print: How much did the company pay? That troubles New York Times arts and business writer Judith Dobrzynski, who also maintains the Real Clear Arts culture blog: Stephen Becker directs our attention to her Tuesday-night post in which Dobrzynski writes that AT&T's refusal to provide the dollar amount doesn't make sense ... and could come back to bite the giant in the ass:

How are people going to judge whether this is a fair deal or whether AT&T bargained too hard? And how are AT&T shareholders going to know whether they're getting their money's worth?

Eventually, the numbers usually out. Why hide in the meantime? It looks suspicious.

And here's another thing we don't know: how long does this deal last? AT&T did say that it would offer free WiFi throughout the 10-acre complex.

If your head explodes with dark foreclosings too, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon. Or at Walnut Hill and Central, either way.

​Back in June, Provident Realty spokesperson Marie Fahey told Unfair Park that, look, the developer wasn't quite sure when it was gonna get around to building that European crossroads at Walnut Hill and Central Expressway, site of the long-delayed Glen at Preston Hollow mixed-use development. The company, she said, was getting its economic nuts crunched like every one else and, therefore, it was studying "a wide variety of alternative designs that may be considered in the future." And that was that, though ever since that piece ran, we've heard rumblings that, wuh-oh, the property may fall into foreclosure.

Writes Steve Brown this afternoon, that's exactly what has happened: "Lenders have scheduled a forced sale for early next month on the 42 acres at the northwest corner of North Central Expressway and Walnut Hill Lane." Fahey's out of the office this week (lucky!), but her sub at C. Pharr & Company PR has promised to get a response from Provident since we can't reach anyone at its LBJ Freeway offices, stunning.

Update at 3:22 p.m.: The very nice Katie, who's new at C.Pharr, just called and said the PR firm doesn't actually handle Provident anymore. It's a very recent development. She suggested calling the developer directly. That, or banging my head against the desk.

​Even if you've never heard of the Fan Cost Index, the name is pretty self-explanatory: It's what a family of four could expect to spend at a sporting event, simple as that. Factored into the costs, per Team Marketing Index's arguable equation: the price of two adult average price tickets, two child average price tickets, four small sodas, two small beers, two programs, parking and two adult-size caps. The ball-cap buy seems like an unnecessary add-on; then again, only two beers ... and smalls? So maybe it evens out in the end.

This season, the Texas Rangers' FCI is $150.64 -- far less than the Major League Baseball average of $196.89. Last season, the Dallas Mavericks' FCI came in at $344.86 -- or $52.93 above the National Basketball Association average. (But his season, yet again, the Mavs are offering some 500 $2 tickets for most home game.) And, last season, the Dallas Stars' FCI of $244.18 was well below the National Hockey League average of $288.23, though who knows what happens with dynamic pricing!

All of which is a long, throat-clearing warm-up to today's news: Your Dallas Cowboys are now the most expensive ducat in the National Football League, and with an average ticket price of $159.65, well, that brings the FCI out at Jerry Jones's EnormoDome up to $758.58 -- which, if I read my numbers correctly, is a 78 percent increase over the numbers for the final season in Texas Stadium. (And, yes, that number does take into consideration the $29 standing-room-only party passes and the sold-out $59 offerings.) By comparison, the New England Patriots come in second with an FCI of $597.25. And the NFL average? $412.64. So, Richie Whitt, is it really worth it?

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There's space for lease on Knox Street -- nice location too, right between the Apple store and Wild About Harry's. Until, oh, today, of course, that was the Current Energy location. But according to a press release we received this afternoon, Joe Harberg's done pulled the plug on "the world's first energy efficiency store™" and moved some of the energy-efficient product to Lakewood -- the Green Living store on Abrams Parkway, to be specific, where they peddle "earth friendly goods for the home."

The press release was long but not really heavy on details, save for a mention of a "strategic alliance" between the two outlets. Harberg, who founded the joint in '05 with his brother-in-law, wasn't available to talk -- in meetings, so we're told. Green Energy's CEO Tom Bazzone, who came from Restoration Hardware and bought the business a year ago, tells Unfair Park that he and Harberg have been talking about the consolidation for about a year; today's announcement is the culmination of their chats.

"We try to make available products for people who want to live a sustainable lifestyle, and one of the areas where we haven't done a great job is energy conservation," Bazzone says. Truth is, he's going to have to find shelf space, and the Lakewood store isn't huge; hence, his plans for a 3,000- to 4,000-square foot "prototype" down the road. "We've put the product in the store where we have room," he says. "In the future we'll put it in more deliberately and make it more of a destination for energy-efficient products."

Of course, it wasn't so long ago that Harberg was talking about franchising Current Energy nationwide. In fact, back in February 2008 Time magazine was amped up about Harberg's energy-efficient business, not to mention the "zeal" with which he spread the green gospel. Said Harberg to Time, "You're saving people money and saving the earth at the same time." Concluded writer Bryan Walah, "As business plans go, that's an awfully good one."

​Have yet to make it to Dallas County District Court to read the lawsuits pitting Gilbert Aranza, the franchisee operating as Base Holdings who opened and rather suddenly shuttered the Chili's in the American Airlines Center, against Center Operating Company, which runs the arena. But I did spend a little more time this morning sifting through some of the docs filed in bankruptcy court, including Base Holding's initial filing for Chapter 11 in July and Center Operating Company's response filed a month later. Also among the notable filings: a 26-page missive from Center Operating Company's attorneys to Base Holdings, in which they outline the amount of rent Base Holdings allegedly failed to pay Center Operating (about $158,000) between last October and this May, as well as money owed other contractors and product providers. As it turned out, the AAC was looking to kick out Aranza long before he packed up in the middle of the night last Thursday.

As usual, all the docs are available after the jump for those who can't understand how a Chili's in the AAC could go buns-up right before the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars start their seasons and the DART Green Line begins service to Victory Park. But Aranza's attorney, Richard Pullman, told Unfair Park Friday evening that this whole mess was Center Operating Company's fault. He claimed that during various events, AAC officials would "barricade the doors to the restaurant" without explanation; he also said Aranza "could never get [a] parking permit for us to use the parking lot on non-event nights," referring to the lot adjacent to Victory Park.

"And then, during the circus, we were giving out coupons for people to come to our restaurant," Pullman said. "We said if you buy a meal, your kid gets a free one. And [Center Operating Company] said, 'You can't give out the coupons in the arena, because we have a deal with the circus operator, which gets a percentage of revenue from the concessions, which is contrary to our lease. ... We invested $2.8 million into this restaurant, because you have to spend a whole bunch of money to build a Chili's in a place where everybody has to eat in 30 minutes. The short story is, I've practiced law for 38 years in Dallas, and represented landlords for 30 of them, and never seen a landlord act like this. Never."

​Another day, another Forbes list on which Dallas scores a good -- this time, as the very bestest U.S. city "in which to take home a paycheck." A whole bunch of numbers were crunched -- everything from average salary to cost of living to "economists' predictions for the future state of employment" -- and Dallas shot to the top of the pops, ahead of Houston; Minneapolis; Austin; Washington, D.C.; St.Louis; Seattle, Atlanta; Kansas City, Missouri; and Denver.

​As it turns out, the very day we were wondering what it would cost to move a Hilton Hotels regional HQ to Dallas from Farmers Branch, assistant city manager A.C. Gonzalez was sending that very info to the city council's Economic Development Committee. Here's the full memo -- and, sorry, but no, Hilton isn't moving its regional HQ to downtown after all, but a generic office building at Dallas North Parkway and Keller Springs Road.

Nonetheless, the city figures it's quite the good deal: Hilton's asking for $150,000 in moving expenses (or, more specifically, an econonic development grant), which it would get only after dropping "approximately $3,000,000 in tenant improvements and approximately $1,100,000 in business personal property." And, Hilton wouldn't be eligible for the dough till it created "a minimum of 200 jobs" by no later than April 30 of next year. The only hitch: That's 50 jobs below the Public Private Partnership Program limits set by council in April 2008, which puts the minimum at 250. It's on the council's agenda for September 23.