Page 23 - CityofArlingtonFY26AdoptedBudget

Business Plan

The Arlington Expo Center is home to the Esports Stadium Arlington – a
30,000 square-foot esports competition showroom, a state-of-the art
broadcast and live-event production suite, as well as 8,500 square-feet of
esports training, office, and team hospitality spaces. The stadium offers
catering and audio/visual services to accommodate not only esports
competitions, but also expositions, public events, banquets corporate
meetings, and special events.

The Expo Center is also the home to the Arlington Museum of Art (AMA).
The AMA exhibits in three distinct exhibition spaces housed in the venue’s
48,000 square foot former exhibit hall: the Traditional Gallery features
commonly held cultural museum programming including painting,
sculpture, textile, photography, ceramics, clay, glass, ink, collage, etc; the Immersive Galleries host multi-sensory experiences
blending art and technology; and the Community Gallery featuring a rotation of curated exhibits and local programs available
with no admission fee.

The department also administers the City’s contract with the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB), the official
Destination Management Organization for Arlington. The ACVB functions include strategic planning and leadership, serving as
advocate for tourism product development, managing hospitality & tourism workforce development, promoting arts and the
cultural heritage of the destination; overseeing, creating, and implementing marketing campaigns and promotions to inspire
leisure travelers to visit; and the recruitment and securing of large and small scale conventions, meetings, and special events,
such as Professional Bull Riders (PBR) World Finals, the 2020 National Finals Rodeo, WrestleMania 38, the 2024 Major League
Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game, INDYCAR Grand Prix of Arlington, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
World Cup 2026, Cotton Bowl Classic, Esports Awards, and many more. The ACVB’s sales efforts will focus on continuing to
grow hotel room demand, increasing hotel occupancy throughout the city, and furthering the development of the sports and
esports markets.

The Arlington Entertainment District is a venue unto itself, made up of the City’s multiple world-class stadiums and attractions.
The CES department serves as a liaison to the many partners and stakeholders in the District. The department plays the role
of ‘ex-officio citizen’ for the Entertainment District neighborhood, serving often as an initial point-of-contact for the district’s
corporate residents and an observer for the City’s varied interests and activities.

Planning and Development Services strives to make Arlington a premier City by engaging in visionary planning, building
vibrant neighborhoods, and serving our residents, businesses, and visitors. Customer service is a core focus of the department.
Since the launch of the in-person One Start Development Center and the AMANDA permitting software in 2006, the Planning
and Development Services department continued to enhance customer
service through innovative process improvements to improve the customer
experience. The One Start Center assists homeowners, business owners,
and the development community with the permitting process and includes
payments, business registrations, permit issuance, as well as provides
guidance to walk-in customers by three over-the-counter professionals:
development planner, engineer, and plans examiner.

The Land Development Division’s primary role is to effectively communicate
and administer the regulations of the City to the development community and
work closely with developers to bring their visions to fruition. This is mainly handled through pre-submittal meetings, where
development planners and engineers discuss the project with the developer, provide key information based on applicable
research specific to the project prior to the meeting, and then guide them through the development processes as needed. This
could include the rezoning, platting, and site plan processes. On average, staff conducts between 150 to 200 pre-submittal
meetings annually. Additionally, this team reviews a myriad of permits including fence permits, residential and commercial
building permits, public improvement plans, site plans, and landscape plans to ensure compliance with applicable ordinances.

FY 2026 Proposed Budget and Business Plan 17 City of Arlington, Texas