After the City of Irving's drawn out and expensive mayoral election, the results are in, showing Beth Van Duyne the victor with 57 percent of the vote.
Van Duyne ousted the incumbent Herbert Gears, whose largest talking point was the proposed Irving Entertainment Center, which will include 11 restaurants and a state-of-the-art music hall that has the potential to greatly affect live music in the Metroplex.
Van Duyne, who was outspoken in her opposition to a new music hall in Irving in an interview with DC9 last month, now says the city's need for a music venue "remains to be seen." But she does tell DC9 that she still plans to hold an audit of the entire project, which has already cost the city over $21 million in pre-development money.
"I think it's been riddled with legitimate questions and concerns," she says. "And, until I feel comfortable with proceeding, we need to have those questions answered."
Regardless of what the audit reveals, though, Van Duyne hasn't yet ruled out moving forward with the current plans, which were drawn up by development company the Las Colinas Group LP.
Meanwhile, the Las Colinas Group's chairman, Bill Beuck, says he remains confident that any audits performed will only show a tight-knit operation.
"Throughout the whole process, all of the expenditures were reviewed by the Beck [Group], which is an extremely confident construction entity that reported and worked for the city," he says.
Beuck is also confident in the Las Colinas Group's ability to work with Van Duyne to finish the Entertainment Center, saying that his company is willing to make any changes that will improve the project.
However, according to Beuck, the project cannot be completed without the music hall, which is set to act as a centerpiece to the center.
Van Duyne says she'll wait and see on that matter.
"[An investigation] was a very strong mandate that I heard from the voters," she says. "I intend on following through."
