Fort Worth Is Tearing Down the Convention Center Arena. Here's Your Last Chance to Say Goodbye

The Fort Worth Convention Center before 2003 renovation - source: https://fwtx.com/culture/clock-is-ticking-on/The round arena on Main Street in downtown Fort Worth gets one more afternoon before it comes down for good. The city is throwing it a free farewell party on Sept. 20, then handing the building over to demo crews in early 2027.

The event is called "It's Goin' Down." It runs noon to 4 p.m. at the arena's 9th and Main Street entrance. It's free for all ages, and it includes a live concert and DJ set covering five decades of music, a dance floor, a historical exhibit, and giveaways. The city is also collecting old photos and memorabilia from people who went to concerts, graduations, or even got baptized there, so it can display them as part of the sendoff (City of Fort Worth, n.d.).

That detail about baptisms isn't a stretch. Andra Bennett, the city spokesperson who spent nine months planning the event, told the Fort Worth Report that the arena has hosted first concerts, graduations, engagements, and yes, baptisms, over its history. "In Fort Worth fashion, we wanted to give a finale to this iconic building," she said (Fort Worth Report, 2026a).

The building opened Sept. 30, 1968, as the Tarrant County Convention Center, before the city bought it and renamed it in 1997. Its dome shape earned it comparisons to a flying saucer. Some early accounts put the original construction cost around $5.5 million. I couldn't independently confirm that figure through a primary city source, so treat it as a rough historical marker, not gospel.

Why is it coming down?

Short answer: Dickies Arena took over. When Dickies Arena opened in 2019 out near the Cultural District, it became the city's go-to venue for concerts and big arena events. That left the old downtown arena without much of a job. City studies project Fort Worth's convention business could nearly double with a modernized, more flexible facility, and that arena space is standing in the way of that (D Magazine, 2026).

What's replacing it?

The city presented the full plan to City Council on Feb. 3, 2026. It's a $606 million project, officially Phase 2 of the convention center's expansion, following a $95 million Phase 1 that wrapped up in December 2025. In place of the arena: a four-story, glass-fronted building with 359,174 square feet of new rentable space, including a 40,000 square foot ballroom, 43% bigger than the ballroom already on the south side of the center. A central tower on the new building will face Main Street, designed to echo the Tarrant County Courthouse a few blocks north (Fort Worth Report, 2026b).

Once finished, the whole convention center complex is expected to total roughly 257,000 square feet of exhibit space, 61,000 square feet of meeting rooms, and 74,000 square feet of ballroom space, plus 16 loading docks. Completion is targeted for early 2030, and the city says the center will stay open and booking events the entire time construction is underway.

Timeline-wise: mobilization for the teardown starts this summer, the arena hosts its last public event on Sept. 20, and the wrecking ball shows up in early 2027.

My take, and I'll say upfront this is opinion, not fact: I'm torn! On one hand, I feel this is the right move - Dickies Arena already does the concert and rodeo job better. A dome built in 1968 that hasn't seen a real renovation since 2003 was never going to compete with modern convention space for landing bigger events. On the other hand, I'm devastated - The Convention Center Arena is one of my favorite landmarks in our great city. So Fort Worth loses a landmark, but it gains a facility built for what the city needs now. 

What this means if you live west of downtown

A $606 million public investment downtown is a signal, not a guarantee. It doesn't automatically raise home values in Aledo, Benbrook, or Weatherford. But it does say something about how the city is betting on its own growth, and that matters if you're weighing a move closer in versus staying further west.

For Move-Up Buyers thinking about trading a longer commute for something closer to downtown energy, a neighborhood like Ventana in Fort Worth puts you within easy reach of events like this one, without giving up newer construction and modern floor plans.

For Empty-Nesters who like the idea of an occasional downtown concert or convention weekend but don't want to live in the middle of it, Westpark and Timbercreek in Benbrook offer that lower-maintenance, quieter setup with downtown still a short drive away.

If you went to a concert, a graduation, or got engaged under that dome, Sept. 20 is your last chance to walk through those doors again. After that, it's just a memory and, soon, a construction site.

What else?

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References

City of Fort Worth. (n.d.). It's Goin Down [Event page]. Retrieved August 3, 2026, from https://www.fortworthtexas.gov/departments/public-events/Convention-Center-Events/Arena-Farewell

D Magazine. (2026, April 16). Inside the $606 million overhaul of the Fort Worth Convention Center. https://www.dmagazine.com/commercial-real-estate/2026/04/inside-plans-for-the-reinvisioned-fort-worth-convention-center/

Fort Worth Report. (2026a, July 15). Final act: Fort Worth Convention Center Arena anticipates wrecking ball, teases last event. https://fortworthreport.org/2026/07/15/final-act-fort-worth-convention-center-arena-anticipates-wrecking-ball-teases-last-event/

Fort Worth Report. (2026b, February 3). $606M, 4-story convention center addition a nod to Fort Worth history. https://fortworthreport.org/2026/02/03/606m-4-story-convention-center-addition-a-nod-to-fort-worth-history/