December 10, 2025 – WFAA – by Cole Sullivan
The city of Dallas has no record of ever conducting a property condition assessment — an inspection — on a former hotel turned homeless shelter that it has spent more than $4 million renovating and repairing since purchasing, records show.
The former Candlewood Suites off Preston Road near the President George Bush Turnpike has been home to the Family Gateway nonprofit since 2021 — even as delayed storm repairs and an ongoing replacement of exterior facades have meant the organization and the families it serves have had fewer than six months without construction crews on site.
“I can’t wait for it to be fixed so we can just have our lives back and our families can be settled,” said Family Gateway President and CEO Ellen Magnis.
Dallas purchased the building in December 2020 for $6.6 million using federal funds — and then spent $1.2 million on renovations that cost more than double the amount initially budgeted and took longer than expected, records show.
Expensive problems continued when a May 28, 2024 windstorm damaged the building and its roof. City documents show Family Gateway reported the damage June 3, but an assessment and repairs did not occur until a month later — over the Fourth of July.
“It was essentially raining inside the building,” Magnis said.
She said the city initially denied being responsible for repairs to the roof — and mold had developed by the time the municipality conceded that it was required to pay for fixes.
“It continued to leak, so essentially our $3 million renovation, much of it was ruined and had to be torn out and redone,” she said.
But the issue with water inside the building continued even after the $652,402 roof replacement and related remediation, Magnis said.
“It was still raining in our building,” she added.
In October 2024, the city determined there was an issue with the “exterior insulation and finish system” and City Council has, to date, approved a total of more than $2.3 million in additional funds for a full replacement of the exterior of the building.
“Millions of dollars are being spent here on the city’s dime,” Magnis said.
In all, the initial renovations and repairs after the storm damage and after the issue with the facade was discovered have totaled more than $4.1 million dollars, records show.
Records obtained by WFAA show the city conducted an environmental site assessment in October 2020 before the purchase of the building was finalized. But the City’s records department said it had no information about a property condition report from a property condition assessment of the site before the city bought it.
When asked if Dallas conducted such an inspection, a city spokesperson declined to answer. In response to other questions, including whether the city erred in its due diligence before purchasing the property, the spokesperson provided a previously public memo on how much the city has paid repairing the property.
“We appreciate the questions but that is all we’re saying at this time,” wrote spokesperson Nick Starling in response to a follow-up email.
The city has previously faced harsh criticism for failing to conduct proper due diligence on other buildings it purchased under the same leadership that bought the Family Gateway site.
The so-called “Lemon on Stemmons” building along the Stemmons Freeway was purchased for city permitters but then vacated after it failed to meet requirements for a permit.
Dallas spent $14 million to buy the office tower and has since put at least $15 million into renovations and repairs, before admitting “failures” this spring. The city is still paying tens of thousands of dollars a month to maintain and secure the site as it seeks to sell it.
Magnis’ Family Gateway has remained operational throughout the damage and construction, but she spends thousands of the nonprofit’s own dollars a week buying hotel rooms for needy families as city contractors continue to repair the facility sections at a time.
“They stepped up,” Magnis said of the city. “It’s just taking a long time.”
She said the repairs are set to be completed in May 2026, but adds, “I think it’ll be longer.”
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