Ashford CEO Monty Bennett would like to move his firm downtown but doesn’t think it’s safe

As businessman Monty Bennett tells it, he’s long wanted to move his hotel and real estate firm’s office to downtown Dallas. But he feels like he can’t because it’s not safe. That’s what the CEO of Ashford Inc. and publisher of the Dallas Express told a ballroom full of the city center’s largest advocates at a Downtown Dallas Inc. luncheon on Friday. “We need to improve what’s going on downtown,” said Bennett, whose firm is headquartered on Dallas Parkway just north of the Galleria shopping mall. On the agenda for the meeting was the election of new board members from some of Dallas’ largest corporations and the bestowing of a lifetime achievement award to Robert W. Decherd for his creation of green spaces downtown.

While hundreds of attendees at more than 70 round banquet tables picked at their catered salads, Bennett gave his scheduled remarks during the meeting and began to raise eyebrows. “I do believe our city is in a transition period,” Bennett said. “I think the past few years have been tough. We have an opportunity ... to take our place among the greatest cities in the country or the world. Or, at this inflection point, it could very well descend into what other American cities have become, unfortunately.” Bennett, who launched the Express in 2021, said readers of his news site have repeatedly informed the publication’s staff that they think poorly of the city’s police protection and ability to manage homelessness. After the meeting, Downtown Dallas Inc. president and CEO Jennifer Scripps said in a statement that she hopes Bennett seriously considers moving Ashford Inc. to the central business district. “When it comes to public safety in downtown, DDI relies on data,” she said. “The data shows that violent crime is low and getting lower.” Scripps said the advocacy organization’s field operations team engaged in more than 30,000 interactions with the public last year “without a single incidence of violence.”