DALLAS, Texas — Construction crews can start putting up buildings for the long-delayed Dallas police academy after the City Council on Wednesday approved $20 million for the next phase of the $227 million project at the UNT Dallas campus.
The money goes to Swinerton, the builder managing the job, and covers six buildings: space for basic recruit training and for officers already on the force, reality-based scenario training, physical fitness and criminal justice classes. It also pays for landscaping and paving. The site is at 1200 E. Camp Wisdom Road.
Most of the $20 million comes from $17.5 million in private gifts. QuikTrip gave $10 million in exchange for naming rights on the Basic Training Building, while a Caruth family foundation fund, the W.W. Caruth Jr. fund, put in $7.5 million. The remaining $2.5 million is from the bond package voters passed in 2024. The QuikTrip gift carries a condition that the city spend it on construction by May 30, 2027.
The council also accepted two state grants worth a combined $15 million from the governor’s Criminal Justice Division, aimed at the limits of the current academy and the region’s demand for police training.
Earlier work is already under way. In August the council set aside $29 million for utilities, building pads and other site prep, and this week’s money is part of a larger $158 million contract that covers most of the campus.
The timing matters. The vote came less than a week before Dallas voters decide whether to borrow more for the academy and a separate outdoor training range at Dallas Executive Airport, which the city puts at $170 million. City leaders are also shopping naming rights, including a $50 million ask to put a donor’s name on the academy itself.
Council member Chad West said the city has been promising officers a new academy for decades, while public safety chair Gay Donnell Willis said donated money can go to construction or upkeep depending on the giver’s terms.
Section: More Dallas TX crime news
Filed under: Dallas TX Public Safety News
